Here is part two and the conclusion.

Also, I would like to take a moment to make one tiny request. Please, if you comment/review my work, please don't post your hate for a character. I fully realize I'm a real, actual adult writing fluffy angst for a children's show and most of the fanbase is younger than me, but please understand that the wonderful team at Zag and our own Hawk Daddy have their reasons for Mari/Bug to be the way she is. Believe me, it took me a long time to understand why writers wrote characters certain ways. Why they added certain traits. And again, it's a children's show. Mari/Bug is meant to be relatable. I cringe to think about it, but I was the same way when I was younger about my crush. (Granted, I did not steal his phone or know his schedule.)

That being said, here is the MariChat you're here for.

Part 2

He turned away from the girl before him with a tail swish and started to pounce away when the whisper of his name reached his leather ears. His heart stopped and his eyes widened. He craned his head back to glance at Marinette. He had expected her to be gazing at him with those bluebell eyes, but instead she was still eyeing the stars above.

Why…?

"I'm so sorry, Chat…"

What…?

He watched as the bluette curled in on herself. When the salty smell of her tears reached his heightened senses, he pounced. He didn't even recall reaching for his baton, extending it, or even the actual vault itself. He was just suddenly there. He curled protectively over her body similarly and yet so different to the way Bug had crouched over Adrien that morning. He rested on his knees but his torso was curved so that he met Marinette at her eye level, his claws dug delicately into the cushion protecting Marinette from the wicker of the chaise. The claws that could ruin the Eifel Tower with a single touch trembled at the thought of scratching such delicate skin as his thumbs flicked towards her eyes to brush away the tears that had slipped.

Chat gazed down at the girl. She stared up at him with those wide dazingly eyes and his heart lurched once more. She looked like the way she had stared at Adrien in the rain all those months ago. Like whatever he said or did had the ability to make or break her. Like she was a precious porcelain princess and not the valiantly amusing adolescent he had seen that night on the Seine.

Thunder rumbled in the night sky.

A shiver passed through him at the eeriness of it all. Chat and Adrien's worlds threatened to collide. And Chat knew the supernova would destroy him from the inside out. And he couldn't let Marinette get caught in the void when the smoke settled.

"Chat…" She whispered his name again and his eyes focus on her and not the ramblings of his thoughts. The tears started once more.

And so, did the rain.

Chat's body did little to protect the girl beneath him from the sudden downpour. The rain roared around them and silenced the thundering of his pulse. "Princess," his questioning tone barely reached her.

And just like that, Marinette snapped. The rain washed away her tears and she glared up at him like he was a parasite. (Or maybe, a Paris-ite, Chat thought to himself.) The tiny girl braced her hands against his chest and pushed. With much more strength than a girl her size should have.

Chat fell unceremoniously onto his butt.

"Ouch!" The leather hero howled as Marinette moved to stand over him.

"You can't be here, you stupid cat!"

Chat tried to ignore the way his insides squirmed when she said that. Failed. Because she was just so much like Ladybug, but just so different. Swiftly, Chat rose to his feet; his wild hair plastered to his head in thick clumps. He tried to say something witty, something suave, something flirty. Anything other than what came out of his mouth.

"What the hell?"

His tongue suddenly felt like cotton. Way to go, Noir. So smooth.

Marinette arched a blue brow at him, her plastered bangs nearly hiding the reaction. "Really?" She stomped closer to him. "You're acting offended when you invaded my privacy?"

Chat glared at her. "You asked me to!" He shouted.

Marinette pushed his chest again. "No! You just heard wrong, you lazy cat!"

Again, Chat felt that strange stirring; like he was drowning and so close to breaking the surface. "Well, cats don't like water," he stated. Wow. Much smooth. Such suave.

Marinette blinked at him. A second passed and then thirty seconds passed before she finally said, "If that's your attempt to get me to invite you in, it sucks."

"But is it working?" He flashed her a smoldering smirk.

"Yes."

Chat knew three languages fluently. But he could not even recite the French alphabet in that moment.

Marinette opened the trap door and jumped down. Chat waited a second before he followed her. Once inside and not hammered by rain, Chat took a few deep breaths. Only to let them out in a screech. Stammering, he pointed to the posters and magazine cutouts of him. Well, not Chat him, but Adrien him.

Marinette-who had been drying off her hair will a towel-glanced at Chat, the posters, and then back at Chat. "It's…not what…that is…" Her face was red. His face was red. He was stammering. She was stammering. And since when did Chat ever get this tongue tied?

Cat got your tongue, Chat?

Marinette began plucking the posters and clippings down. "He's my friend! Besides! I'm taking them down!"

"Why?" Adrien blurted. Because in that moment, he was Adrien. He wasn't the black cat hiding behind a mask. He was the golden boy hiding behind a smile. And someone he knew and cared about was rejecting that forced smile.

The girl paused and blinked at him. "'Cause…well…" She glanced away and then back. "He's my friend," she repeated. "And, um, I did something really stupid and selfish today."

His brows crinkled together under his mask. Had he even seen Marinette today? Besides, what could Marinette ever do that was selfish? "You are like the most unselfish person I know," Adrien blurted.

The girl in question rose her own brow. "Wow. I should feel honored. A superhero is telling me I'm selfless." She turned back to clearing away her posters. "Anyway, I learned something today and it's really opened my eyes."

When she didn't seem like she would fill him in, he sighed. "Don't shut this wet kitty out," he began. "You can't just leave me hanging. You know what they say about cats and curiosity." He waggled his brows beneath his mask, but she wouldn't have seen it anyway since her back was still to him.

The sigh she took she heavy. Chat watched as her shoulders rose and her body seemed to heave. Turning to her right, she dumped the magazine clippings in the trash bin beside her desk. Chat winced. It would have hurt less if she had punched him in the gut. Why did that bother him? An hour ago he was crying because his Lady chose Adrien, now he wanted to cry because Marinette literally threw Adrien away. What the what?

Turning her violet eyes on him, she said, "That I've been so head over heels for a guy that I could never be with that I ignored the most obvious choice." She smiled softly, her eyes twinklingly like starlight. She giggled softly and he totally missed the joke. "The one guy that's been right in front of me."

Chat felt his cheeks warm. Was he the punchline? "I…uh, yeah. That's pretty deep. Life changing. The cat's meow." He groaned at his own pun. Cat's meow? Really? It reminded him of Copycat and how Ladybug said she thought he didn't really love her.

And he did. He loved Ladybug. But she didn't love him. She loved his other half and he was standing in his classmate's bedroom in the middle of the night while she confessed her love for someone else while rejecting his other half. When had his life gotten so complex?

Marinette stepped closer to him, her head tilted to the side in questioning. His arms twitched to reach out to her. He wanted to hold her and tell her he lo-

He jumped away from her. The pained expression on her face was another punch to the gut. "Well, I'd love to stay, Princess, but this cat's gotta-"

Her lips silenced him.

She pulled away as quickly as she had kissed him; her face nearly as red as what he assumed his own face looked like. His cheek was still damp from chap stick and it tickled his sensitive skin.

"Goodnight, Chat."

The boy began to retreat. "Yeah, goodnight, mi'lady-PRINCESS! GOODNIGHT PRINCESS!"

He practically flew out her skylight and back into the rain.

Dear god, when had he fallen for Marinette?

But, if Ladybug had made it clear she would never return his feelings, then why not try to move on with his classmate? She obviously had feelings for him? But not Adrien who Ladybug loved.

His mind spun as he vaulted home.

Bug loved Adrien who was Chat who loved Bug who loved Adrien who was Chat who loved Marinette who didn't like Adrien who liked Marinette who loved Chat.

What. The. Actual. Heck?

The beginnings of a migraine was forming behind his eyes. Squinting through the pain and rain, Chat was certain of one thing.

It wasn't safe for Marinette to love him. If Hawk Moth found out about her, she would be a victim. More so than she already was.

He had to let her go.

End.