It was like she was in a nightmare crafted by Hawkmoth to finally turn her into an Akuma. Instead, this was real life; Gabriel Agreste had his son woo her in hopes that she would stay in his company and one day take it over.
Maybe there was a chance that it was a dream.
But it wasn't. The pain she felt in her chest was too acute for the events to be mistaken as fantasy. A cynical part of her was just waiting for the black and purple butterfly to show up.
She lay there, paralysed with pain on her bed since she came to her room. She wasn't too sure how much time had passed but by the shifting of the sky from the morose shades of grey to the melancholic blues of dusk.
The entire evening, she ignored Alya's and Nino's calls. Adrian probably called them and told them what happened when she refused to answer her door earlier. He pounded on it for a long time and begged. Begged for her to listen to him with a voice that sounded like he swallowed a concoction of glass shards and razors. As though he had been crying.
Why was he the one crying?
Maybe he was terrified of losing her as a friend.
When he finally gave up, she heard the door to his room shut. Then, mind-numbing silence.
The silence was little comfort to her for it allowed her mind to spin wild. With time to think, she kept wondering as to why Adrien agreed to do this with his father. It made no sense! He clearly seemed oblivious to her feelings for him, seeing that the plan was to get her to fall for him. But why was it necessary? She had delayed accepting any of the many internships she was offered by other fashion houses when all she had from Gabriel was an interview. And the day she was told that she already had what she thought was an internship, she declined all 12 of her offers. Even if he feared that she might make her own brand, he could just amalgamate it to the fashion house as he had done with Lucien. And if he wanted her to be his successor, marriage wasn't necessary. Something could have been worked out?
She sat up. She had some questions for her Chaton. She made her way to the door at once. If she hesitated for a second, she knew she would never ask him. She stepped into the hallway She understood why Adrien went along with the idea, his father must have asked him too, but what did he get out of it. She couldn't help but compare it with the Kagami situation.
A few muffled notes of the piano made its way through the din of her thoughts. It was soft yet haunting and pulled at the recesses of her mind like a long-lost memory. She recognized as the tune that she heard Adrien humming a few times. The song was like a false memory to her; something she shouldn't remember. It was enough to slow her walk to his room.
It stopped as she neared the door.
She didn't bother knocking the door. She simply let herself in. A quick scan of the room informed her that he was nowhere in sight. Although she couldn't see him, she felt his presence as if he were watching her. thinking that he might be on the couch, curled up in a ball, she made her way there but got distracted by the grand piano. The sheet music she had seen last night was on the stand and it appeared to be completed with a title.
"Little Kitty on the Roof..." Even the name evoked some familiarity
The door snapped shut with an extra click for the lock, making her jump. She spun around at the noise and froze. Pale lips smirked at her before moving towards her. She wouldn't dare call what he did walking, his movements in his white leather-clad legs were a smooth and graceful glide reminiscent of Adrien's model walk, however, never before had she seen it look so... sinful before.
"And I thought I would have to cataclysm that wall or your door to get to you, Princess. Where are my manners; I am-" as he spoke, she couldn't help but eye the slight fangs he had.
"Chat Blanc, " How could she forget this Akuma. The Akuma with the ability to destroy the entire world, the moon and even...her. 4 years ago, when Bunnyx pulled her into the future to deal with him.
"We've met before, Princess? " he questioned with a cat-like turn of the head. There was a question in his blue eyes.
"Uhm, no? Lucky guess?" Crap, she was floundering.
"Lucky, huh?" a seductive smirk curled his lips and the question in his eyes seemed to be answered.
Marinette's brain ran a mile a minute as she searched for a solution. She had to get away from Chat Blanc and transform into Ladybug. But how as she to explain how ladybug managed to get inside the extremely secure house? Or she could just transform here in front of him revealing that she was his partner all along. She had been planning to tell him anyway and this might be it. What a terrible way to confess!
He finally closed the gap between them, essentially caging her against the black wooden instrument behind her. The white leather encasing his hands felt surprisingly warm as he took her hand in his. He pressed a lingering kiss to that hand before pressing it to his chest, above his heart. In those short moments, her face pinked from the contact with his bare chest. Oh yes, the white version of his suit was extremely revealing. His white hair had a wild sexed-up look to it, hanging into his eyes, a white leather collar wrapped around his neck with his golden bell hanging on it, his pant was somehow tighter than before and he wore a white leather bolero and gloves with nothing underneath showing off his sculpted muscles.
"What happened Chat?" She finally asked
"What happened?" He pretended to think it over. "You happened, Princess. You ran away from me and wouldn't give me a chance to explain"
Her temper flared before she could get a hold on it. She tried to wrench her hand away but he held steady. "To explain? Explain what? That you and your father had been plotting to get me to fall for you. That you were trying to manipulate my feelings to keep me in your father's company at his behest? Really Adrien? And I really thought that you were finally developing some agency from your father when it came to decisions but it looks like I was wrong."
"Marinette, would you shut up and listen for a minute?" Irritation flashed through his blue eyes.
"Why would you do something like that when you only see me as a friend-"
Marinette's tirade was cut off by Chat, particularly his mouth. His lips slammed into hers and attacked it relentlessly. She was shocked at first and tried to fight off the effects he caused throughout her body, but it was a losing battle. She melted into the kiss responding in kind. Noticing her reciprocation he nipped at her bottom lip asking for entrance of which she eagerly obliged. Chat's tongue danced along with hers before quickly dominating her mouth. His hands that were cradling her head, angling her head to kiss her even more deeply making her knees weak.
He pulled away too soon for her liking, leaving her a panting wobbly mess clinging to him. His hooded eyes took an appreciative look at her.
"After all this time you still think I only see you as a friend?" He tsked, then he muttered, "After all these weeks you still..."
"Chat I-" she began to voice her confusion but he pressed his thumb to her lips.
"I finished the song. Would you like to hear it?" He asked. His eyes were so full of hope as if the song had all the answers in the world. She nodded. If this would keep him calm and collected and not turn into the insane and dangerous Chat Blanc she experienced when she was younger.
Chat gently took her hand that was still over his heart, in his and began leading her around to the piano's bench. His hold was soft and if she really tried to she might have been able to break free of his hold, run and transform and hopefully after purifying the Akuma and resetting everything Adrien might not question how Ladybug did it (because now wasn't the time for confessions). Instead, she let him lead her. Where they touched, she felt electricity, even through the magical leather. And she was utterly and willingly lost in his blue eyes. All too soon he sat on the bench and pulled her into his lap, his chest pressed into his lap.
Chat Blanc reached around her and began pressing the keys in a lazy way, slowly building its melancholic tune. She recognized it instantly; it was the song she had heard Adrien humming and what she had heard before entering this room earlier. Then he began singing and though his voice was beautiful and his breath tickled the back of her neck, a shudder ran up her spine for different reasons.
This was Blanc's song for Ladybug that he was singing when she met him in the future. It was years after the Name Day incident that Adrien never had to go through; how did he know this melody before turning into his akumatised state?
"Maybe it's my fault." He had stopped singing and began speaking in soft dulcet tones into her shoulder, "I did basically create a situation that makes you misunderstand my actions 4 years ago. But even then you didn't question It, you just went along with it. Can't really blame you, I never questioned it either until after fighting Miracle Queen. Then I kept trying to get you to notice me the next 3 years both as Chat Noir and as Adrien. You brushed me off as Adrien but as Chat Noir it was slowly happening."
She watched as his left hand stopped playing and moved to her knee. He continued to play the melody with his right hand, while the claws of the other absentmindedly drew patterns on her skin making it difficult to focus on his words.
"With every visit, we became closer. It was a wonderful time, those nights we spent hidden in your room. But I realised it couldn't happen, not as Chat anyway so I stopped and tried harder as Adrien. It wasn't until November last year that Nino told me that I had a chance. But I was an idiot and waited too long and you gave up on me in February. Then Kagami came with her problem and I grabbed at it, because it was a chance to be close to you.
"4 months later, I got my chance again and my obligation to Kagami had just ended. The day I was attacked I was coming to tell you that we had broken up and to start my plan that even my father approved of. Then I forgot everything from the last 4 months and I asked you to stay. To keep you close. To get you back. I almost had you then I opened my big mouth and almost lost you. Well, you're here now and I'm never going to let you go again."
Was he saying what she thought he was saying? Or was his delusional state exaggerating what he felt? She couldn't keep the thought in her head for long because his hands had been moving higher on her lap and steadily inward, kneading the flesh there and his mouth was busy tasting the flesh of her neck to shoulder with small nips and licks that had her fidgeting on his lap and subtly bucking her hips into his hand in spite of her trying her best to not react. And all throughout he continued to play on the piano.
"Ch-Chaton- what do you mean?" The words struggled to pass through her lips against her pants and soft mewls.
"Oh princess, don't you understand. I love you and now you're mine. Only mine. My Marinette, my Mari, my Princess, my petite souris... M'lady."