The hero Chat Noir came to Marinette Dupain-Chengs aid. Who was still mourning the death of Adrien Agreste even when it's been years. All this time, Marinette loved him. He felt so special, so honored to be cherished so much by a single person. He was beginning to regret his faked death.
Luckily for Chat Noir there were no crimes committed, no police sirens wailing, not even screams from someone being mugged in such. It was just him, the broken hearted girl and the thunder. The rain soon then began to fall down upon the city of Paris, making soft pitter-patter sprinkles. Marinette let her guard down to the hero. She broke down into a non-stop crying state. Usually she would calm herself in several minutes and continue on what she was trying to do, but now, her tears couldn't stop. All night, tears spilled to her cheeks, staining the floor.
All Chat Noir could think of was comforting her. He ran his claws gently through her hair as she laid across his lap. Occasionally, he would rub her back while she tried to control her breathing. God, she tried so hard. It might not have looked like it but she tried so hard to overcome her shyness for Adrien. She worked so hard to even greet him in the mornings. Did he ever notice her? Without Marinette knowing, he did in fact notice all her accomplishments. Sure, they hadn't spoken much but it didn't mean Adrien wasn't watching her. She was his first friend. She seemed to always to motivate herself even when she was down. Not afraid of what say what she believed in. She was original with her work, and found better ways to become a designer. Adrien never forgotten about Marinette, though unfortunately he felt terrible for not knowing how she felt. After a while the broken hearted girl stopped sobbing, but her tears continued to slightly shed.
"I miss him," Marinette admitted with a sniffle, "I was never really able to become decent friends with him but," she said wiping her tears away with her wrist sounding nasally, "I still miss him."
"I don't think that," Chat Noir replied calmly, "I mean, I'm sure he didn't think that."
"Maybe." She sighed heavily, wiping her eyes.
Chat thought hard of how else he could comfort her. Sure they were friends, he liked her. But she did have a point that they never really talked. Now he knows why she never did.
Also a side note, he had a busy schedule to obtain at the time. He had to do photoshoots, even do some modeling classes, then actual school classes, save the city, sometimes do autographs, then he had to do some other lessons from his father, it was hectic and stressful for a boy at fourteen. But, Chat Noir thought, he could say what he kinda thought about her?
"I think," the cat hero began slowly, "he thought you were the best in the class." Marinette didn't bother responding to him, nor did she know even how to respond. She did feel like she was the only one who was really into designing and learning in school. She liked school. She liked how excited she was when she woke up each day. Especially to see Adrien and her best friend Alya.
Another thought, she felt as if she was the only one who really wanted to know Adrien. She didn't really care if he was a model or famous, or the son of a famous father. She just wanted to be close to him, be a better friend and hopefully something more. She did admit that she thought at first he was a jerk. After that fateful day, it was as if cupid had struck her himself. She wanted to know his thoughts, his dreams, how he got angry, the list could go on.
Unlike Chloe and she was his childhood friend! All she cared was having an attractive, rich boyfriend. The thought of Chloe disgusted her, she never changed. Marinette thought best not to think about her anymore.
A few more tears shedded down her cheek when she began to control her breathing. Chat Noir wiped them away with his claw, happily to comfort the mourning girl. Her eyes began to close, her crying had made her drowsy. Slowly, but surely, she had drifted to sleep.
As soon as Chat Noir knew for a fact she had fallen asleep he had de-transformed back to Adrien Agreste, the boy that Marinette had fallen in love with.
Plagg tiredly floated into Adrien's shirt pocket, making himself comfortable that also went to sleep.
Adrien gently used his fingers as if he had claws as Chat Noir, lifting up Marinette's bangs out of her face. Her face was slightly puffy from her crying, her cheeks rosy. Adrien sighed deeply, he felt so much remorse for her. He never wanted anyone to feel this way. Especially not her, definitely not her. She was so hard-working, so cheerful and creative.
Adrien whispered to Marinette, stroking her cheek, "I'm sorry, princess." He apologized once more, leaning down and kissing her temple.
Slowly and slyly, Adrien escaped from Marinettes grasp. He felt better, he hoped Marinette felt better too. He was determined to have a better friendship with her. At least a better friendship than before.
Marinette awakened on her small sofa futon instead of her bed. She woken up by the sound birds tweeting at her balcony while the sun hit her eyes. She squeezed them shut and stretched out all her limbs. She seemed like a cat that was laying in the sun all day and stretched out it's belly.
The ex heroine for once, felt refreshed. It was the best sleep she ever had. Surprisingly. She couldn't remember the last time she slept well. It had been years.
No nightmares, no cold sweats, no waking up in the middle of the night for anything. She cried lot through that entire evening.
Memories from the night before flashed in her mind, remembering Chat Noir's visit. Her chest felt like had a lot of weight was released from her. She couldn't help but smile to herself.
It was time for a change. To start anew, she needed to become a new person.
The ex-heroine untied her pigtails, standing up to her feet with more confidence that she has ever had. She approached to her long body mirror as she stared down at herself . On the side of her desk she reached a pair of scissors carefully. She stared at them for a moment, and opened the blades of it and made it a snipping sound.
Marinette looked at herself once more in the mirror, her face determined.
"You will no longer be unhappy," she told herself firmly, lifting her left hand to hold her hair up. Then with her right she put her hair right on the edge of the blade with her scissors.
"You will no longer cry yourself to sleep!" Snip!
"You will no longer procrastinate!" Snip! Snip!
"You will no longer burden your friends or family!" Snip!
"You will no longer be helpless!" Snip!
"You will no longer be alone…"
"You will… take care… Of yourself." Snip… Snip. Marinette looked herself in the mirror of her new self. She might have gone a little over-board but this is her new evolution. She took her scissors once more and made some adjustments to make it look nice and neat. She angled her face left to right to find any missing spots or adjustments she had to make. Once she was content with herself she brushed it out.
It was an awkward feeling, everything felt much lighter and swifter with her head as she moved. She smiled for once at herself in the mirror, now that is the Marinette she remembered in high school. She had to be sure to thank Chat for the help. For once, she smiled to herself in the mirror.
Slowly, she approached her dresser placing her scissors back in place. She caught a glimpse of Tikki's earrings. She couldn't be a hero again just yet. But…
Marinette took the chinese balck and red matte box, placing it inside her purse. She vowed she will no longer be alone. So just in case…
Adrien Agreste slept throughout the whole day, dreaming and remembering scenes from the night before. Marinette's blue bell eyes looking up at him as he analyzed the color of her iris and the small angel kisses across her nose. He could hear her voice over and over from the night at his grave.
I've always loved you, I always will.
It struck him, it still has caught him off guard. He wasn't sure why his brain kept hearing this sentence. It's been so long since someone's told him that they loved him. When he was living with his father, he didn't even bother showing any type of affection to his only child. Even when he did, they were extremely rare.
Adrien slowly woke from his slumber, greeted by his kwami Plagg that was enjoying his camembert cheese. He slowly lifted his hand up and used a finger to scratch behind his ear, Plagg falling into his scratches. Adrien smiled tiredly from his kwami's cat antics.
He groaned and laid on his back, his thoughts clouded with Marinette. He wondered if she
was feeling better, what she was doing, what she was thinking. What was he even thinking now? Just her, he can't seem to focus on anything else. Once sirens were heard from his window he instantly hopped up and said the magic words to transform into the cat hero of Paris Chat Noir.
As he assisted the police, arresting some people that were burglaries she caught his eye. Marinette, the blue bell eyed and black haired girl. Had cut her hair in a cute pixie cut.
"Thank you again, Chat Noir." the chief of police interrupted his thoughts and gaze.
"What? Oh of course, all in a day's work." Then the cat like eyes searched and followed Marinette. She was changing and he loved it. She was moving on, this was such a good sign! He hoped for this, and then Marinette turned to the crime scene, finding his gaze. The girl smiled brightly and gave him a wave. This struck his heart, he felt it pound so hard inside against his chest it hurt him. He's never seen such a smile like that before from anybody. Her smile, was so bright and genuine it reminded him of his mother. A smile like that could possibly kill someone. He lifted his claw like hand and returned the wave with a limp, he was too much in awe of the young girl from his school days.
His eyes continued to follow her once she entered a bakery shop. If he could remember, this was her parents shop and her old home. He slyly peeked inside the shop through the window, seeing the surprised faces of her parents of her new change, gladly accepting her. He remembered when he first entered the Dupain-Chengs home, they were very welcoming. It was warm, he feel as if he could already smell the entire shop.
The cat hero made his way up to the balcony of her room. Her room was filled with boxes that were labeled "Supplies" , "Marinettes designs," "Books in Marinette's room". Some of her old designs were on mannequins with dust sprinkled on it's shoulders. One of the mannequins had the hat she designed for Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father. Just by looking at those feathers in the room from afar wants to make him sneeze. He remember some nights when visited Marinette for missions when he was helping with Ladybug.
Though, Chat Noir still felt somewhat remorse for what he did to Marinette. If only he could have known, maybe he wouldn't have gone through any of this. Especially not to Marinette, not her. He skillfully climb down, meeting with his high school friend face to face. She exclaimed with surprise and gave a laugh to him.
"Hi, Chat." Marinette greeted.
I've always loved you
"Are you perchance free tonight?" Chat blurted, feeling the blood rush up to his cheeks.