A/N: Shout out to those who reviewed last chapter! Also, to guest reviewers, I will be responding to your reviews in the each update, since I can't pm you.

RiiniiRiin: Sure! Yes, there's multiple parts to this story.

Anony: Here you go.

Sophia: Yeah, Chat Noir's got some odd reasoning

Guest: Chat Noir does know Marinette is Ladybug.

Agatodemon: This will not be a oneshot.

Guest: Thanks!

ZkJabasoftware12: No, this has multiple chapters.

A/N: In which Chat Noir messes up big time.

Marinette turned away from the window, refusing to watch Chat Noir leave. She swiped at her eyes with a tissue, eyeliner leaving thin black trails on the paper, continually repeating the same motion in an attempt to block out the feelings in her heart.

She hated him. How dare he lure her in with his sweet words and silly puns, always there with his hugs, his dorky personality. How dare he leave her alone by herself, leave her without a reason. How dare he leave without a backwards glance.

She didn't realize how wet her tissue was until Tikki appeared beside her, holding a new tissue. Marinette looked down at her hand to the black tissue crumpled in her fist, completely soaked through with tears.

"Thanks, Tikki," she said, offering her kwami a teary smile.

Did she really mean that little to him? She knew Chat liked Ladybug, so when the black chaton started showing up at her window at night, she was confused. Did he know that she was Ladybug? Heck, didn't he like-no, love- her alter ego? He was flirting with Ladybug all the time.

She remembered when she first saw Chat standing on her balcony half a year ago. In the two years she was Ladybug, she'd never seen Chat on her balcony before.

He staring into the night sky as if the glittering stars would give him all the answers in the world. It was a position she'd never seen him in before, something she'd never thought she'd ever see-melancholic. He was usually so happy, so flirty around her. No, around Ladybug, she corrected herself. Chat Noir's only met Marinette to deal with the Evillustrator.

The first thing she asked him was: "Aren't you supposed to be home?" because it wasn't his turn to patrol, it was hers. That was the schedule they'd agreed on, patrol every other day. And when she remembered that she wasn't supposed to know about Chat's schedule it was already too late.

At her question, he had whirled around in a blur of motion, leather tail and all. He crouched into a defensive position, legs bent, arms in front, fingers twitching to lay into his prey. His green eyes shot straight into Marinette's heart.

He looked horrible. His eyes were oddly shiny in the light until Marinette realized that he was barely holding back tears. His ears drooped, and his tail sagged on the ground. His air was messy, and his baton was affixed half-heartedly to the back of his suit.

When he saw it was her, he relaxed. His eyes softened, and the tension left his body. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to be here so long." He gestured helplessly at the stars. "It's just that-things didn't go so well recently and the stars just mesmerized me." He extended his baton and ran a hand through his hair. "I better go."

Chat looked so dejected Marinette almost regretted interrupting him. "No, no, it's fine, you can stay," she said hesitatingly. Now to act as a civilian. "I was just worried there was an akuma attack, that's all."

"No," he replied. "The city's safe for now."

"That's good to hear." They stood in relative silence for a few moments, the crickets chirping softly. The tension between them was thick enough a knife could slice through it.

"I can relate, you know," Marinette offered up after a while. She wanted to break the silence, but she didn't expect to say that.

"Relate to what?" Chat turned to look at her.

"To not having things go well recently." Chat had recently confessed to her about his feelings during patrol today. She knew he was going to tell her by the way his breath stuttered before he spoke, and she could only wait in silence for the delivered sentence.

I like you, he had said to her. And when he lifted his eyes to hers to find only horror, he had realized what she already knew.

I'm sorry, she had told him. I-there's someone else. Chat had only nodded before retreating, bounding off into the distance to lick his wounds.

She never thought she'd find him here.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Guilt bubbled up in her chest. So you first break his heart as Ladybug, and now you want to comfort him as Marinette? Haven't you hurt him enough already? Chat will never forgive you once he finds out.

She brushed those feelings aside. Chat was sad, and he didn't know that she was Ladybug. She could offer comfort-after all, she was the cause of his pain.

Chat sighed. "I don't want to burden you, and it's getting late. Thanks for the offer to stay, but I really shouldn't. Good night, and good luck with your problems." He had leapt away afterwards.

There was an akuma attack the very next day. They worked out of sync, Chat barely looking at her and Marinette feeling guilty about causing his pain. He looked he was forcing himself to be there. When Marinette's Miraculous Cure had done its job, Chat scampered off without offering the usual fist pump at the end of each fight.

Chat didn't show up to meet her during her patrols as he was wont to for the next month. She'd hurt him more than she thought, Marinette realized a week in. It was no wonder he was avoiding her. What better way was there to move on than to avoid the hurt as much as possible?

She sighed. She knew it would come to this, Chat liking her and her not reciprocating his feelings. If it wasn't for Adrien, then she might have looked at Chat differently, but with Adrien in the picture the only love she felt for Chat was of the brotherly kind.

When she was Ladybug, she brushed off Chat's attempts at flirting, hoping that he would take the hint and fall in love with someone else. Instead, he took her disinterest as a challenge, pushing for a closer relationship. Marinette didn't want that. She couldn't jeopardize the partnership with romantic feelings, reciprocated or not. One day, someone was going to get hurt, and the other would be wounded all the more because of regrets that had everything to do with each other.

It was better this way, better off without the knowledge of each other's civilian life. Ignorance was bliss, wasn't it? Wasn't it?

No, it wasn't. It wasn't when you decided to fall for a certain kitty. It wasn't when a black cat fell for you when he was supposed to be pining for Ladybug. It wasn't when you were left heartbroken at the same cat's hands without a reason.

She remembered his harsh voice, his glaring green eyes with the green sclera. She remembered what he told her, that he didn't love her anymore. Him saying that he didn't want to see her. Chat informing her of the termination of his feelings.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Chat wasn't supposed to fall for Ladybug, he wasn't supposed to come to her for comfort, he wasn't supposed to keep coming for weeks upon weeks. He wasn't supposed to make her fall for him.

Marinette rushed out onto her balcony, reveling in the crisp, clean air, trying to escape the crushing pain in her chest.

Stop, she commanded herself. No use getting more emotional than you already are.

It was no use. She could feel the pressure building up behind her eyes, the heat inside her eyelids. As much as she told herself to stop, she couldn't. The watery fluid built up in her eyes, threatening to spill over, threatening to break the wall she had built around herself.

She sank onto her knees, sobs wracking her body as she relived the memories she had built with Chat Noir as Marinette. Gasps flew out of her mouth, and she knelt her forehead to the ground in an effort to calm herself down.

Just as her tears slowed, something occurred to her. Somewhere along the way as Ladybug, she'd convinced herself that she was unbreakable. Unbeatable. She was wrong. It wasn't brute force that had gotten the best of her, it was caring and love, the soft, compassionate side she never tried to hide.

Marinette burst into a fresh round of tears, Tikki looking on.

"Oh, Marinette," she whispered. "You aren't the first one to fall in love with your partner. It'll be better, you'll see."