I have achieved the balcony scene I desired when I started this thing. I'm tempted to let it end here especially since I've not really got much of a response since the first part. I also kinda have an idea for a time travel fic that I would like to start on. However, I go on vacay in a week and will be super busy. I'll probably be silent for about 2 weeks or more.

Chapter Text

Part 4

Chat bounded across the rooftops cautious of the slippery tiles from the rain shower the night before. When he got to Marinette's house, he was unsurprised to see her on her balcony on her pink plastic lounger. Unlike last night, he didn't watch her like a creep, he immediately landed on the metal railing and announced himself. "Princess," his demand for attention was a singsong.

The girl looked up from her chaise and snapped her sketchpad closed. "Chat," she deadpanned. She had obviously just showered. Her hair hung limp and wet around her shoulders. His heighten senses caught a light whiff of spices and coconut. Her face was no longer red like it had been earlier, but her lips were chapped. She tended to bite her lip and he wondered if she had been holding in her sobs to keep her parents from worrying about her.

He wasn't sure how to proceed from here. Chat had expected her to be akumatized, but she was just as normal as she had been at lunch. Not that she was normal, she was way too extraordinary to be deemed as normal. She was like super sweet and talented and-

"What are you doing here, Chat?" She huffed as she stood from her chaise and approached where he was still crouched on her railing.

The black cat shook his head. "I heard you were upset and I came to check on you." The explanation, as true as it was, sounded lame to him. "But, you look fine, so I'll be going. Other damsels to save and all that." He glanced into her eyes and found the starlight that normally shown there to be diminished. Like the star had reached its lifespan and had combusted.

Marinette cocked a brow at him. "How'd you hear about that?"

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"Adrien told me?" He suggested to her.

She pursed her chapped lips. "Well, don't worry about it, Chat. Everything's fine. I just…" She sighed heavily and ruffled a hand through her limp bangs. "I'm struggling to wrap my mind around some stuff and I may have freaked out a little." She sighed heavily and turned away from him. She drifted across the balcony back to her lounger.

The cat slunk down from his spot, moving to her side. "You want to talk about it?" She plopped onto her lounger and began to pull into herself like she had done earlier. Chat reached out for her as he rounded the chaise to face her. His hands gently took hers, their fingers intertwining. "Hey," he whispered. "Don't shut me out anymore." His voice was glass and she held the power to shatter it. He squeezed onto the plastic chaise before her, his added weight causing it to groan pitifully. Marinette looked up at him with wide, scared eyes. "If someone's forcing you-"

"It's not like that," she cut him off. Tearing her eyes away from him, her cheeks began to stain pink. "How much did Adrien tell you?" Marinette muttered.

Chat thought about how to best simplify his own thoughts. And it was a struggle. "He told me…" He started slowly. "He told me that you were in an arranged marriage. And that you wanted out." Her eyes darted back to his and he could see the panic swirling within their oceanic depths. "He also said that he wanted to help you. That he didn't want to see you suffer." Chat looked down at their linked hands. His thumbs stroked her knuckles soothingly. The hero drew in a shaky breath. "Adrien cares a lot about you," he admitted softly. "But, he doesn't know what to do."

Marinette squeezed his hands and it temporarily caused Chat's movements to stop. His cat ears drooped as he looked back up at her. "That makes two of us," she responded tenderly. "I don't know what to do either. Because I really like A-," her voice stuck in her throat for a breath or two. "I like Adrien. And I can't accept his help with this. I have to stop liking him. That's why…"

She closed her eyes. Her face scrunched in like she had tasted a sour candy. "I lied to him. I lied to everyone." Marinette admitted. "And I shouldn't have done that, but I have to put some space between Adrien and me. And I panicked. I blurted out a lie and then Chloe started spinning in into this big thing and then Alya texted me what she said this afternoon and-"

"Princess, breathe."

Marinette stopped talking. Pitifully, she looked away. "You can tell Adrien I'm fine." She lapsed into silence then as her bottom lip was sucked into her mouth. Chat could see her white teeth latching onto it and scratching at a piece of skin hanging.

He was miffed that she had lied to him. But right then, his irritation didn't matter. Something was upsetting her and there was no way she could have faked the entire spiel from lunch. Alya was right when she said Marinette could not improve. She struggled to read from scripts. For all her other talents, she just could not act. He had thought it cute when she had tried to step in during Nino's film. She was the silent type of artist. She drew and created. She used her hands and the callouses his fingers bumped as he held her hands gave that away.

Marinette kept things inside. But she always tried so hard to help others. And he loved that about her.

And he wasn't going to give her up. His earlier promises be damned.

He loved this girl.

His fingers slowly left her hands and cupped her tender face. His thumbs softly pulled her lip from her mouth. His princess blinked up at him. "It's gonna be ok, Mari," he breathed. "I promise."

Her lips tasted like coconut and mint. This close he could make out the scents that hovered around her. She was lavender, chocolate, and pumpkin spice. Chat's lips moved furiously against hers as he sought to convey his affection. The tiny girl clung to his shoulders and bumped his nose with hers as she sought comfort. Her tiny gasps and pants fueled him.

Marinette gazed down into her cup of tea. "Are you…sure? I mean, there's no other way?"

Fu nodded. "Ladybug and Chat Noir are soul mates. The only way for you to reach full potential is if you stop pushing him away."

Her throat constricted. "And…what if I want someone else?"

"You must let this other person go, Ladybug."