Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug or it's characters.
Chapter 12,
It was a chilly night, so after the fashion show, Marinette thought it would be best if she brought up a mug of hot chocolate to her balcony. Well, to be honest, she brought up two mugs of hot chocolate. One for her, and one for Cat Noir. It was a little unusual for them to check up on victims, after the fact. But he did want to see her, he said so. Though it was unusual, Cat Noir was still her friend. Granted Cat Noir did spend more time with Ladybug then he did with Marinette; but Marinette was more then happy to hang out with Cat Noir.
She wasn't sure what she should expect. Would Cat Noir make so many bad puns that she can't help but smile at his stupidity? Or would he attempt to be serious a moment and do everything in his power to avoid making jokes of any kind?
"Marinette?" Tikki asked, poking her head out of Marinette's purse.
"Tikki, stay hidden. Cat Noir could show up any second." Marinette said. Personally she wasn't that worried about Cat Noir seeing her, because Tikki was aware that he knew Marinette's truth. But she didn't say anything about this. Marinette wanted her secret identity to be just that- a secret. And even though Cat Noir knows that she is Ladybug, it was still Ladybug's choice to reveal that knowledge.
"I know, so I'll be brief." Tikki said and Marinette sighed.
"Alright, go ahead Tikki." Marinette said with a smile.
"Are you going to talk toCat Noir about Adrien?" Tikki asked and Marinette sighed.
"I'm not sure Tikki. Probably a little Cat Noir will probably ask me why I got so upset. You know, the reason I got akumatized. How can I tell him what happened without talking about Adrien?" Marinette said and Tikki nodded.
"That is true." Tikki commented.
"Was that it?" Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend.
"Well, Ladybug doesn't share a lot of personal information with Cat Noir. But if Marinette really is Cat Noir's friend, then maybe this is your opportunity to strengthen your bond with Cat Noir." Tikki said and Marinette blinked.
"What do you mean?" Marinette asked.
"I mean, Ladybug trusts Cat Noir more than any other person. Isn't it about time that Marinette trusted Cat Noir more than anyone else?" Tikki asked and Marinette thought for a moment.
"I guess I never thought about it like that before, Tikki. It would be nice to talk to Cat Noir, like a real person. Instead of the high pressure situations we normally find ourselves in." Marinette said and Tikki chuckled.
"Exactly, Marinette. Have fun and let your hair down." Tikki said.
"My hair is already down." Marinette said and they both laughed.
"You know what I mean, Marinette." Tikki said and Marinette kissed the top of Tikki's head.
"Thank you, Tikki. I'll keep that in mind." Marinette said. Tikki went back into Marinette's purse.
Marinette sat and waited for Cat Noir to appear. She gently dipped her hot chocolate, which she enjoyed. She took out a notebook and watched people down on the street. She put on some instrumental music, and looked out at the setting sun. She didn't do it often, since she loved fashion so much, but on occasion she did write poetry. At least that's what she called it since they were short sentences/paragraphs with no other rhyme or reason to be together.
Marinette write quietly as she listened to the hypnotic melodies of Tchaikovsky. She saw a man standing in front of his window, and wrote about a lost opportunity. She saw two children playing tag and wrote about the nostalgia of youth. She saw a mother walking with her son and wrote about a longing to understand a person we love so much. It was only then, that Marinette noticed that she was halfway done with her cocoa and started to think that Cat Noir wasn't gonna show up after all. Part of her was really looking forward to seeing Cat Noir. Sadly Marinette turned the page.
Cat in the shadows,
Where do you hide?
Are you just beyond my line of sight?
Oh, come into the light,
My cat of the night.
Am I scary in your eyes?
And that's why you hide tonight?
I'm a friend, dear kitty.
Come out of the city,
And come back to me.
Marinette wrote. She reread it and blushed. This little poem made it seem like she had a crush on Cat Noir. Which was ridiculous, because she had a crush on Adrien.
"Or... do I still like him?" Marinette asked herself. After everything that went down, Marinette wasn't at all sure how she felt about Adrien. His apology was so... sincere. It made her heart melt. But did she still love him after he made her feel so terrible?
She looked down at her hands. She was actually wearing a pair of dark gray gloves that matched her jacket. She thought gloves were the best thing to hide what Adrien did to her hand. Marinette hesitated, took a deep breath and removed one of her gloves. Her hand had purple-green splotches all over and it was still incredibly sensitive to the tough. Part of her expected to feel the same overwhelming sadness as before, but instead she felt angry. Angry that he hurt her; angry at the tears she cried; and angry at how incredibly fragile she was. She ripped out a paper from her notebook, crushed it into a ball and threw it with all her might.
But after she did, she realized that she just threw out the poem she just wrote about missing Cat Noir. She groaned a little at this, but she wasn't too worried about someone finding it. She never actually wrote the word 'Noir' or 'superhero' so no one would ever know that it's about Cat Noir. She couldn't explain why she wanted it back, she just did. She put her glove back on and laid back to look up at the stars and the sun, which slowly disappeared.
Marinette was completely unaware that the cat she was thinking about, had just been hit in the head with a paper ball.
"Looks like that came from Marinette's house." Cat Noir said. He knew Marinette was smart, and Ladybug would occasionally tease him, so he thought maybe she hit him on purpose. Just as a fun way to tell him that she was up there. Cat Noir picked up the paper ball and unraveled it, to read the note.
"Cat in the shadows, where do you hide? Are you just beyond my line of sight? Oh, come into the light my cat of the night. Huh? My... cat?" Cat Noir realized this wasn't a note meant for him. It was a poem about him. Which kinda makes sense, when he thought about it. Marinette's father got akumatized because he didn't return Marinette's love. Maybe those feelings never went away? Was asking Marinette if he could check up on her a mistake? He didn't want to hurt Marinette again, by misleading her. Cat Noir was in love with Ladybug. But Marinette was Ladybug. So would it be misleading when they were the same person.
"This is all too complicated. Maybe I shouldn't see her after all." Cat Noir said, and he started to walk away. But he stopped when he noticed that he was still holding Marinette's poem. He decided to read the rest of it.
"Am I scary in your eyes? And that's why you hide tonight?" Cat Noir blushed. Hiding and running away were basically the same thing, and he was embarrassed by it.
"I'm a friend, dear kitty. Come out of the city, and come back to me." Cat Noir finished and he couldn't help but smile. He folded the poem up and put it in his pocket for safe keeping; he even zipped it shut. Marinette heard a woosh sound, and looked beside her to see Cat Noir sitting on the ground.
"Cat Noir." Marinette said with a smile on her face, and Cat Noir smiled back.
"Hi, Marinette. I came as fast as I could have you been waiting long?" Cat Noir said and Marinette giggled.
"Not sure, I've been distracting myself. But you could ask the hot chocolate in front of you." Marinette said and Cat Noir blinked.
"Thanks." Cat Noir said, he took a sip. The drink was lukewarm.
"So you wanted to check up on me?" Marinette asked and Cat Noir nodded.
"I think you're a cool person Marinette. And I know the two of us don't hang out very often, but I like to think of you as a friend." Cat Noir said, then instantly wondered if 'friend' was the right word now.
"That's sweet of you Cat Noir." Marinette said, with a slight blush on her face.
"So how does this work?" Marinette asked and Cat Noir blinked.
"What?" Cat Noir asked and Marinette bit her lip gently.
"This check up thing. As far as I know, Ladybug and Cat Noir don't really check up on the de-akumatized people. So how does it work? Do you ask me a survey of questions and report back to each other." Marinette asked and Cat Noir smiled. He was impressed at Marinette talking about Ladybug so casually. Then again, she probably gets lots of practice considering that Alya is so proud of her Ladyblog.
"Well, it really isn't a common thing, I'll admit. But like I said earlier, I think of you as a friend. And I would really enjoy getting to know you more so that we can be even better friends." Cat Noir said. Marinette smiled and then she was full of doubt.
"I appreciate it, but do you think that's wise? If we become better friends, then there is a chance that Hawk Moth would use me to get to you." Marinette said and Cat Noir blinked.
"Anything is a chance nowadays. If kindhearted people like you and Ms. Bustier can fall victim to Akuma's then anyone can. Even miraculous holders are not immune to those things." Cat Noir said and Marinette knew this was true.
"Not to mention Alya. She's been kidnapped multiple times, yet she still runs after villians in order to get to know Ladybug." Cat Noir said and Marinette giggled.
"Yep, that's Alya alright. But what's your point?" Marinette asked.
"I was just thinking that, as a superhero, we need to protect people and make sure that they feel safe." Cat Noir said.
"I completely agree with that." Marinette said, and Cat Noir recognized the 'matter-of-fact' time of Ladybug.
"Well, how can we make the Parisians trust us enough to feel safe, when we never feel safe to be around Parisians when we aren't fighting crime." Cat Noir said.
"I'm not sure that's how other's see it." Marinette said gently.
"Well, think about this. Let's say Hawk Moth takes some time off to prepare for something big. So no one gets akumatized for a month. People would know that Hawk Moth was still out there. But would they still feel safe when they hadn't seen Ladybug or myself in that same month?" Cat Noir said, and Marinette understood what he was talking about.
"In that situation you do have a point." Marinette admitted and Cat Noir smiled.
"I'm just saying let's go hang out tonight. I'm not saying that we should hang out every day, but..." Cat Noir blushed and Marinette sat up.
"What did you want to go do?" Marinette asked.
"I passed André when I came over here. It could be fun to buy some ice cream and then take a walk through the park. The fireflies there can be a beautiful sight, if you've never seen it." Cat Noir suggested.
"That sounds really fun, Cat Noir. I didn't expect something quiet and private out of you, kitty." Marinette said.
"Cats are solitary creatures by nature. Besides, I thought you'd like some quiet." Cat Noir said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Don't worry, it's perfect Cat Noir... hm, heh." Marinette let out a small chuckle and Cat Noir smiled.
"What's so funny?" Cat Noir asked and Marinette shrugged.
"Oh, I just remembered the last time we talked about André. You know, when he got Akumatized and turned into Glaciator." Marinette said and Cat Noir smiled.
"Man that was like a lifetime ago." Cat Noir said and Marinette nodded.
"Yeah, I know. But I remember it like it was yesterday." Marinette said.
"Really?" Cat Noir asked.
"Yeah. It was a memorable day. I mean, a boy broke my heart, you show up and tell me you were in love with Ladybug, and you showed me that beautiful rooftop to cheer me up, and... yeah." Marinette has more to say, but couldn't. It didn't really matter though, because Cat Noir was fixated on one detail, that almost caused a spit take. He did tell Marinette that he was in love with Ladybug. And that means that he unknowingly told Ladybug that he loved her. Even though Cat Noir wasn't very subtle about it, he was still working up the courage to actually say, 'I love you' to her. Cat Noir drank the remaining cocoa in one large gulp and cleared his throat.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you about that. Who was this jerk that broke your heart to begin with. I could teach them a serious lesson." Cat Noir asked and Marinette giggled and stood up.
"Ice cream first m. Then I might tell you what happened that day." Marinette offered, holding her hand out to him. Cat Noir smiled and took her hand to help himself up.
"Fair counter-offer." Cat Noir said, he wrapped an arm around Marinette and she held onto him in response, making Cat Noir blush. But the hero took a deep breath and they were off in pursuit of ice cream.