Day 15 - Ridiculous Romantic Gestures
The silence was deafening. Chat still refused to look at Marinette for too long and she was already starting to think of all the frustrating time she had spent coaxing him away from her pillow as pleasant in comparison to the present moment.
Once he'd sat up and crossed his legs she'd realised that she still had no idea how to approach this new and wonderfully terrifying situation. But if she didn't break the silence soon she was going to start rambling from sheer discomfort and that never benefited anyone. "So," she started, the rest of the sentence going nowhere fast.
"So," he echoed her, his eyes briefly flicking over her face as he tried to judge where the conversation might go. It quickly became apparent to both of them that Marinette's train of thought hadn't derailed as much as it had never left the station. In fact the driver was probably out back smoking a cigarette whilst his passengers just got more and more frustrated at the delay.
Chat was more familiar with driving than most fourteen year olds considering he and Ladybug had used a lot of cars as distractions in the past, but that didn't change the fact that he'd never driven a train before. He shook his head. Was he that stuck inside his own head that he was taking the metaphor too far? That decided it then. He finally lifted his head and looked Marinette straight in the eyes. She gave a startled blink at his sudden directness.
"So I-I said some things," he stopped and took a deep breath, "and then I...I-"
"Then you kissed me," Marinette said, face remaining completely neutral other than the warm glow slowly transforming her face into a darker hue.
He blushed heavily himself. The train was chugging along now but it wasn't a smooth ride by any means. He felt his heart jump as the rails made their way over the rough terrain. "Yeah," he said, his voice an octave or two too high, "Catnip Chat decided my first kiss should include tackling someone and drooling on them. Not too clever."
His first kiss? Marinette looked at him sceptically. A smooth guy like him? Or at least, a guy who tried to be smooth? Besides, she knew of at least one kiss he'd shared before. "That was not your first kiss," she said, crossing her arms, her face a mask of unimpressed eye-rolling, "Ladybug. The picture from Nadja Chamack's show." She raised an eyebrow and he mirrored her eye-roll before narrowing them in return, some of his embarrassment visibly easing off.
"Okay, first of all," he said, raising a finger to count off, "I don't remember that so it doesn't count. Second, I was under an akuma's influence and since his powers were hate based, a kiss was the only way to break it-" -Marinette felt her stomach dip uncomfortably at the little white lie she had given him as Ladybug to explain away her actions after he'd seen the picture, but she remained quiet- "-and third, because I thought I hated her at the time and she only did it to free me, it doesn't count even more because there were no feelings involved on either side."
All the tension in Marinette's face and shoulders disappeared instantly and she had to fight to keep her mouth closed as her stomach tried to burrow it's way through the mattress below her. "But there was when you kissed me earlier?" she asked quickly, "Feelings, I mean."
His whole upper body suddenly jerked backwards a centimetre in shock and she let out a nervous bark of laughter at his cartoonesque movements until he shyly dropped his head. When he spoke, it was with a quiet mumble, "Yeah, there was."
She'd expected it, more or less, so she wasn't sure why his declaration floored her so badly. Chat Noir, incredibly handsome teenager, superhero and trusted partner; had feelings for regular everyday Marinette. It wasn't that she was all that insecure about whether people found her interesting or attractive as herself; she hadn't been for some time. But there was something about knowing that Chat had fallen for her clearly more confident alter-ego first and had still managed to notice her in spite of his raging crush on Ladybug that made her remember what Tikki was always trying to tell her – she was still Ladybug with or without the mask.
"And...you've never kissed anyone else other than that before today?"
"That's what I implied, isn't it?"
"Then...you know," she said in a deceptively easy-going tone of voice. He lifted his eyes to meet hers as she spoke, a hint of hope floating in them, "considering you were accidentally high on catnip, that kiss probably didn't count either."
"No?" He didn't have a clue where she was going with this yet. He kept his hopes in check as best he could but they still swelled in his chest at the way she avoided looking at him.
"That means you still get the opportunity to make your first kiss -the very next one you have- a big romantic special thing."
Tilting his head as he watched her, Chat couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the way she deliberately refused to meet his eyes still or the way her face heated up. She scooted forward slightly on the bed towards him and she probably thought it had been subtle but he knew better at this point, a small grin appearing on his face and growing steadily. He leant his upper body forward slightly and watched as Marinette mirrored him, even going so far as to tilt her head to the side as well, although he was pleased to see she tilted hers in the other direction to him.
When their lips finally met (a gentle collision which instantly crashed all thought trains they may have boarded) they had both leant across towards the other in equal measure, neither one having been left to brave possible rejection alone. Marinette's hands slipped into his hair and Chat trailed his across her jaw to cradle her face, marvelling at the fact that this girl he had gotten to know so well in such a short space of time could make him feel this strongly already.
They pulled apart slowly, one kiss leading into another and another lazily until finally they simply peered at one another lovingly, Marinette's face a pretty pink colour and Chat no longer caring enough to blush with embarrassment but instead glowing with bliss.
"Kissing is excellent," he grinned, "We should definitely do more of that."
"Eh, it was alright," she joked, scratching at his head in a playful pet, "We should probably practice some more. You know, get better at it?"
"You sure we can improve on my big romantic first kiss?" He smirked as her face darkened further. She gave him a gentle shove. "Hey! No hitting! You were the one who said it first."
"You're ridiculous," she grumbled, but he was pleased to see her smile still remained wider than ever.
