A/N: I will answer guest reviews at the beginning of each chapter.
Sophia: Just wait and see!
Guest: Welcome to the club!
Scarlet Moon: I agree.
Enjoy!
Marinette tapped on the glass, listening carefully to any reaction downstairs. It was already midnight, and although her parents slept early to open to bakery, her mom was known for midnight walks. It wouldn't be the first time her mother decided to check up on her in the middle of the night. When Marinette heard no movement downstairs, she hopped up and out of her room.
She wanted to get some fresh air. After crying her heart out over Chat Noir, the room seemed stuffy in comparison. Sitting in the same spot on her bed weeping over a cat who had played with her feelings with no more care than with a ball of twine had left her feeling drained of emotion.
Marinette had felt like an empty shell in that moment-existing, not truly living. Her body functioned as it had in the past, air flowing in and out of her lungs, eyes taking in her visual surroundings. Her covers felt warm and comforting under her skin, but the dried tears on her cheeks tugged and pulled at her consciousness.
Slowly, a corner of her brain was freed from the self-induced stupor. Her thoughts went immediately to Cha-she immediately clamped down on the thought at the swell of pain in her chest. His name brought agony to her heart.
No matter how hard Marinette tried to stop thinking about the hurtful bastard, the image of him ending their relationship flashed in her head, the sentences replaying continuously like a broken record.
"I never did like you, Marinette," he told her, voice chillingly cold. He shifted his stance, crossing his arms across his chest.
Repeat. Again. And yet again. Marinette hit the bed in frustration, biting down on her lip to keep the keening wail inside. Why wasn't it going away? Wasn't she already in enough pain?
She curled up into a ball, instinctively tucking her head in to protect herself against the imagined danger. She squeezed her eyes shut, white stars tainting her vision in an effort to block out his face. The same contortions of his lips, the rhythm of his words, the twitch of his eyes, she had them all memorized from the countless hours she spent talking to him on her balcony.
And then-Marinette gasped, her eyes shooting open at her epiphany. After he had informed her that she wasn't loved anymore, there was a flicker of something in his eyes. What was it? Even if it turned out to be disgust, she wanted to know why he had left her.
Marinette concentrated, summoning the memory again. She focused on recreating each and every agonizing detail, reincarnating the scene that had left her incapacitated on her bed for hours on end. As she replayed the scene over and over again, she scrutinized hisface.
There. She caught it. A small flicker of regret flashed in his eyes when he informed her that he didn't love her anymore, and another flicker of sadness appeared just before he tossed away her feelings, a forehead wrinkle preceding each one.
Marinette clutched onto those moments. What did they mean? She only saw his forehead wrinkle when he was struggling with decisions, unsure of what to do. He didn't sound like he was confused when leaving me. He sounded harsh and frozen, calm and arrogant.
He knew he was going to leave me. But why?
Chat had been acting odd lately. Ever since he showed up on her balcony, he'd stopped joining her for midnight patrols. At first, she thought that he was hurt and let him be. During akuma attacks, she kept her distance and kept communication to a minimum. After all, she knew how rejection felt.
Marinette had recently confessed to Adrien, but was rebuffed much like how she, as Ladybug, turned down Chat Noir.
She only had to look in his face to see the sadness and regret reflected inside.
"Maybe if there wasn't someone else," he had told her. "Mari, you're great person and all, but you're not for me. I'm sorry."
She nodded, cheeks burning with humiliation. "I-I understand." She dashed away, eyes downcast and tears pouring from her eyes. She had never wished so hard for Chat's company that night.
Chat had eventually joined her again for midnight patrols, but it wasn't the same. There was no more flirting, no more lighthearted teasing, none of the sly kitty she had come to known. Instead, he had kept his distance. Chat was polite and considerate, forever the gentleman, but not the friend she had love. It seemed that that side of him had disappeared...
Until he had shown up on her balcony one night. Marinette had just de-transformed, thinking about the day's events, when a pair of twitching kitten ears caught her interest. Chat appeared and proceeded to outrageously flirt with her, much as he had done with Ladybug.
She had froze. Standing stock still, she had stared at Chat Noir, silently questioning herself if he really had gotten over Ladybug that easily. And when he paused after offering to show her around, she realized that she was just a distraction. He never spoke of Ladybug, stuttering before abandoning any attempt to say her name altogether.
Marinette decided to take him up on his offer. After all, if he was using her, she could use him as well. She was still recovering from the sting of Adrien's rejection, and a certain black cat seemed to be the perfect answer.
The more time she spent with him, the more Chat seemed like himself. He cracked horrible puns, made awful jokes, and flirted constantly. Marinette relaxed in his company, enjoying it as time went on, desperate to spend time with her kitty in a platonic friendship.
Chat had drawn further away from Ladybug during akuma attacks. After their usual "Bien joué!", Chat always left quickly, bounding onto rooftops as he escaped. He no longer kept a comforting arm on Ladybug, preferring to keep physical touches to a minimum. Chat even renounced all romantic claims on Ladybug, saying that there was someone else-Alya's post had blown up a few months ago because of that.
Marinette didn't think too much of it. As Ladybug and Chat Noir grew further apart, Marinette and Chat Noir had grown closer together. By the time Chat had relinquished all romantic claims on Ladybug, Marinette and Chat had already been dating, and Marinette had thought that Chat's distance from Ladybug was out of respect for Marinette.
It wasn't only until last week Marinette had noticed truly odd behavior from Chat. She remembered Chat was brushing her hair back when his fingers touched her earrings. His fingers had stilled, and she heard a sharp intake of breath. The next moment, Chat was making hasty excuses as he told her he needed to leave.
The next day at school, Adrien kept staring at her oddly, eyes flicking to her earrings. After his rejection, Adrien had avoided her as much as possible, perhaps in an attempt to make things less awkward between them. During class, he leaned away from her as if she repulsed him multiple times, and bolted from the classroom when the bell rang.
Marinette didn't have the energy in her to care. Who knew what rubbed Adrien the wrong way? Maybe his feelings of dislike for her had ran deeper than she originally thought.
Chat didn't come to meet her that night-Volpina had struck again, and her powers only grew. She thought that Chat was tired from the fight; she knew Tikki had been exhausted and so had she. Then, out of the blue, Chat left her tonight, a day after the battle with Volpina.
Was it possible that Chat had learned something from the battle with Volpina? She did see them fighting for a good five minutes while she, as Ladybug, was setting up the trap for the villainess. If anything from that fight affected Chat-and there was a good chance there was, because Chat dropped a bomb a day after the battle-she wanted to know.
Hell, she deserved to know. She had lost a cat over a tidbit of poisonous whisperings Volpina delivered into Chat's ear as Marinette, and the cat as a close friend for over half a year now. It was time to set things right.
Marinette stood up, uncurling from her cramped position. She swung the window back into position, carefully checking that the hinges didn't creak. After asking Tikki if it would be alright to go for a midnight jaunt as Ladybug, Marinette climbed onto her balcony railing.
"Transforme-moi, Tikki!" she whispered, feeling the magic of her kwami wash over her.
Ladybug scanned around, searching for a certain black cat. She knew his favorite spots were the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysées, so she looped her yo-yo around the nearest gargoyle's ears to pull herself towards the glittering monuments.
Snow had started to fall, and white flakes had begun to obscure her vision. Ladybug decided to check the Eiffel Tower first, knowing that its metal bars provided the perfect vantage point for Paris. She didn't have much time before the storm worsened.
As luck would have it, she spotted a hunched figure staring at her bedroom window. His ears twitched back and forth, the snowflakes flicking of his ears occasionally. She leaned closer, confused as to why he would stare at the person he professed to hate.
She crept towards Chat, straining to read his facial expression. Hiding behind a beam, Ladybug leaned in. She heard the a whispered "I love you" before the cat had the gall to leave.
She leaped after him.