The ball of yarn rolled as it was slowly being unwound and threaded into perfect interwoven patterns. Marinette yanked the yarn with the knitting spokes continuing her steady pattern.
"What are you making, Marinette?" Tikki sat on the desk she was currently working on while the other kwamis were at their own thing.
"A sweater..." She replied absentmindedly trying to focus on knitting a lot faster than usual, eager to finish as fast as possible. "Oh, it's for Adrien, right? Since you gave his original gift to Catnoir."
She nodded in negation, still concentrating, "No this is for Catnoir, I got Adrien something at the markets yesterday." She had seen his eyes on a particular beanie and decided to get it when he wasn't looking. And she could give him if he actually did come by on Christmas day.
She placed the spokes down for a while, "You know, I'd been looking for the perfect gift for Catnoir. And since he likes cuddles so much, I thought a sweater would be perfect for him." She picked the spokes back and continued her knitting, "I want to knit it as quick as possible, I was even thinking of using a different color to write a pun on it since he likes them so much." She rolled her eyes, smiling with a faroff look in her eyes.
That look that Tikki did not miss. The kwami had been noticing the signs of the one thing Marinette was oblivious too. She was falling for Catnoir and she didn't even know it, hopefully she could try to make her see it. "You always hand make your gifts for Adrien, you know to show you care for him."
She sighed, she knew it was unusual of her, but she was trying to work on her friendship rather than feelings for him so she didn't stress too much, "I have a box of over 35 handmade presents for Adrien, I just thought it wouldn't hurt to try something different." She shrugged it off.
"You must care about Catnoir a lot then."
"Of course! He's important to me." She replied, feeling slightly accused that Tikki would think she didn't. Tikki smiled, seeing how quick she was to admit it. "Like romantically?"
When Marinette heard her question, she froze for a second, her brows drawing to a frown. Then she nodded in negation, "No, as a friend, not romantically. I'm not in love with him. I like him, just not that way."
"Really? It seems more like..."
"I'm not in love with him." She interrupted even before Tikki could complete the sentence, her tone rising almost like she was saying it to convince herself more than Tikki. She stopped knitting and looked to the side, thinking for a moment,
"My perception about him has changed within the last few days, he's sweet, kind, fun to be around and I really like being close to him, but I don't just have any romantic feelings for him."
Tikki frowned, it would really be hard to make her realize. Sighing quickly, she decided to drop the topic to which Marinette was grateful for as she continued knitting.
It wasn't so long after, she heard the very sound she'd been waiting to hear. The knock on her balcony, "Wait a sec!" She called out as she packed up her knitting stuff and hid it in a drawer while the kwamis went into their all too familiar habit of entering their various hiding spots.
She climbed up to her bed to open the hatch and he slid in landing on the bed wasting no second to wrap her in his hands around her.
"Kitty, I can't breathe..." She muffled out as he tightened his grip on her waist. He whimpered when she pulled away from him, "I guess you missed me." She giggled.
"When do I not?" He moved his hand to cup the side of her face. The pad of his fingers caressing her face, trailing her jawline. He'd waited long 24 hours to get to touch her again. It seemed like every second that passed by, he just fell more in love with her.
She was the only thing that clouded his mind every minute of the day, his heart always on overdrive at even the thought of her smile. Gosh, he wished he could tell her just how much she meant to him. How much she was driving him crazy.
Confessing his feelings to Ladybug was never complicated, it was straightforward and easy even when he knew she'd reject him, he still never held back. But with Marinette... The words were never there, he just lost his breath every second she was close and he just wished to spend forever drowning in the pools of her eyes.
Words could not just express how much emotions clogged up in his heart when she was around. That was a problem. A really big problem because he needed to tell her how he felt...so they could be together.
He thought about doing it as Adrien but when he considered it, she was more closer to his alter ego physically and emotionally. What was worse was the fear of rejection. What if she was like Ladybug? In love with someone else? He couldn't quite remember her romantically involved with anyone asides Luka. And they were done a long time ago. Even still the thought of it was a constant burn to his chest.
But it wasn't going to stop him. He was going to take a chance no matter what, he just wasn't sure how he would do it.
"Stop trying to flatter me, kitty." She moved away from him much to his disapproval and climbed off the bed. He had to resist the pressing desire to pull her back to him.
He watched her as she climbed down the stairs and moved to her desk, his eyes never wavering, "I was thinking we could watch a movie together." She searched through her drawer and pulled out a DVD, the cover having an archaic design.
Marinette picked her laptop as well before climbing back up the stairs to the bed. "What movie?" He picked up the DVD and was not surprised at all when he didn't recognize it, he'd never really gotten the chance to see a lot of movies. On the cover was a couple, the title boldly designed at the side, "Under the mistletoe."
"Oh it's some old romantic movie my grandpa got me last year, I haven't even seen it. These movies are just too cliché, but now that you're here, we get to trash it together."
He rose a brow, "What made you think I don't enjoy romantic movies?"
She was setting up the laptop making sure to place the screen out of his view because of her 'wallpaper' but then she abruptly stopped at his reply, "You enjoy watching movies that make a joke of your own romantic life?" She looked at him incredulously. For the number of times she's failed trying to be more than friends with Adrien, she'd never enjoyed the way romantic movies taunted her. She guessed it'd be the same for him considering his forward with her as Ladybug.
He faked a pout and crossed his arms across his chest, "My love life is not a joke! It's going fine just so you know." He playfully scoffed and she chuckled, climbing the bed once she'd set up the movie to play. "Of course, it's not. Your love life is extremely successful." She joked, sarcasm literally dropping off her words.
She sat upright on the bed, resting on the wall, then tucking her legs into the sheets, she placed the laptop on her legs. "That hurt, you know." He moved to sit next to her copying her position when she gestured him to.
"C'mon, we both know I'm not lying." She bopped her nose and giggled, "I'm not saying mine is perfect either. We can only hope it'd get better." She let her hand slide down to the side of his face, "And maybe one day it would." She lowered her tone and smiled. He could see just how genuine she was.
Filled up with emotions, Catnoir removed her hand from his face and brought her wrist to his lips, "I'm in love with the most amazing girl in the world. I know one day she'll love me back too." He placed a kiss on her inside of her wrist, keeping eye contact with her.
Marinette's cheeks turned beet red, half because of the look he was giving her and the kiss on her wrist and also because he was talking about her alter ego with so much love and adoration in his tone.
Or so she thought.
Catnoir brushed his fingers on her dark cheeks, "So are we actually gonna watch this movie now?"
She smiled and arranged the laptop so it was resting on both their legs. "I'm still going to trash it anyway and you're just going to have to listen." He chuckled at her cheeky response. After taking a second to stare at him, she turned to the laptop and played the movie.
The title popped on the screen and Marinette cringed, "What is it with.."
"Shh..." Catnoir shushed her immediately, "No talking. Just pretend to enjoy it." She scoffed.
Marinette did not listen because she made a snarky comment every 10 minutes in between the movie. It got worse when the plot around the main characters' love story thickened.
"I don't get it. It's always the same thing, they're obviously in love with each other. But for 'some' reason they can't be together. It's just not believable." She my
Catnoir paused the movie, they'd already gone past half of it. "Love is complicated. It's never really easy to understand."
"Says the guy who literally sings his feelings for Ladybug like a prayer." She rolled her eyes dramatically and played the movie again, "Let's just get over with it."
Catnoir didn't pay attention anymore. She still thought he was in love with Ladybug. Well he was, it was just different since his feelings for Marinette completely outwitted that. He didn't want her to think that. Now more than ever, he wished he could just blurt out that he was in love with her.
The movie was well spent and Marinette had leaned on his shoulder much to his delight. "I can't believe we waited an hour plus just to hear them say I love you to each other."
Catnoir chuckled and continued to run his fingers through her pigtails.
It came to the point where both the main characters were under a mistletoe. They both leaned in and kissed each other deeply. Marinette felt her legs tingle and she paused the movie.
"Who invented this so-called tradition of kissing under a mistletoe anyway? It's not even necessary." She rolled her eyes for what would've been the hundredth time. "It helps oblivious couples like them." He gestured to the screen.
"Oh please...you really wouldn't kiss just anyone under a mistletoe with you, would you? I mean you're in love with Ladybug, you wouldn't kiss even me." She meant it as a completely harmless joke.
Catnoir turned slightly to look down at her with a smirk on his lips. "What makes you think I wouldn't kiss you?" He internally praised himself for drawing the confidence to say that from wherever it came from.
Marinette blushed and looked away, rolling her eyes again, "Well I wouldn't kiss you." Her voice wasn't just as firm as she intended it to be. Somehow her harmless joke was escalating.
Catnoir cupped her cheek and turned her to face him. He rubbed his fingers against her cheek and felt his chest grow fuzzy as he saw the blush spread on her cheek, proud to be able to do that to her.
He leaned down and she sucked in a harsh breath, struggling to calm her racing heart. "You sure about that?" He whispered, his tone several octaves lower than usual as eyes idly drifted to her lips.
"Y..Yes.." And no matter how much she tried to resist, she couldn't fight the urge to let her gaze flicker down to his lips. Something immediately shifted in her and it felt like waves of several different emotions were crashing down on her all at once.
They immediately broke apart when a small chime sounded from his baton. Her face grew hot in realization and she backed away, keeping her eyes away desperate to hide her embarrassment.
Catnoir pulled out his baton and his face fell. Even though he expected it, he still hoped it wasn't. "Akuma alert." He whispered sadly.
She shifted uncomfortably under his stare before looking up at him, same sadness reflecting in her eyes, "You should go." She whispered.
"I know. Should I come back?" He kept his eyes locked on hers, silently praying she could somehow see how much adoration he had for her. How much he wanted to be with her.
But Marinette stared at him with him with uncertainty, her eyes brewing emotions that were choking her but somehow soothing her. "I want to come back." He added when she watched him without any reply.
She wanted him to come back too but somehow she kept her mouth shut, just staring at him. After another beat, she let her lips curve into a small smile, "If you pass by when you're done and my lights are still on." She simply replied still unsure of how she could make it back to her room after the fight before he did.
He smile wider when he heard that and cupped her cheek to place a kiss on her forehead, "I'll be back." He began to move away from her.
"I'll be waiting." She whispered as she watched him leave.
