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Chapter Seven : Crash into me

As he moved like a shadow in the night — a broken man's shadow — Chat Noir returned home a tad apprehensive. Hands shoved in the pocket of his cat-suit, he dragged his feet and kicked every little rock or small dirt hanging out on his way.

He hadn't expected to experience another rejection coming from his partner tonight. And although he had decided to move on from her, the reminder of the longtime unrequited love still hurt all the same as in the past years.

Realizing she had never considered placing him as a choice in her love life had been the final blow though. He wasn't a first choice, but not a second choice either. The boy… Another man… but no faithful partner appearing in the list. Or perhaps she did put him in—as a footnote; with question marks, erasure smears, and drawings of reluctant smileys all around his name.

Once more, he was torn between not letting himself fall in love ever again or giving love a chance with someone else.

With Marinette, his treacherous heart (as treacherous as the weather which was leading toward a rainstorm tonight) screamed. The mere mention of her name in his mind made his heart beat faster. Or was it the fact she looked gorgeous with the moonlight silver rays dancing down her raven hair?

Wait. Was that Marinette in the street below, just leaving the parking where he put his moto and getting ready to enter the building where he lived? Damn! He needed to get inside there before her. But it seemed impossible from where he was currently standing, unless… he slowed her down.

His first impulse was to jump straight on the same sidewalk, a few steps away from her.

"Fancy meeting you here, Marinette Dupain-Cheng," he called her out. "Did you move into this neighborhood?"

"Chat Noir," she gasped in a strangled voice as she turned around to face him.

He had caught her off guard and obviously took the breath out of her. Not only her breath, but he had also taken her tears away. Though, thinking twice about it,

he was pretty sure these weren't meant for him.

"Marinette? You okay?" Moving closer, he placed a soft hand on her shoulder.

A gesture she instantaneously dismissed by taking a step backward. "Yes, yes. I'm fine," she whispered in a shaken tone. Yet the way she furiously wiped the tears away from her cheeks with the back of her hands told a completely different story. "I'm just very tired and in need of a good sleep," she clarified with a sniffle which she hastily tried to hide with a yawn—the fake (but still working despite it being forced) gesture didn't fall unnoticed by Chat Noir.

Despite the struggle not to let himself be influenced, the hero ended up yawning mechanically just after Marinette.

"Uh, sorry. I also need to rest. You better hurry up to do the same and not let him wait much longer." He pointed at a window located two buildings away.

Marinette frowned, looking at him warily, and he realized that maybe they were things he wasn't supposed to know about.

"How do you know where I'm going?"

Rubbing at the nape of his neck, Chat Noir came with fumbling explanations. "Wild guess? Isn't that where your friend Adrien Agreste lives? You're both pretty close, right?"

"I'm stopping you right now because I know what you're thinking about and…"

Uh-oh, no! He was never going to get away with it and be able to explain how he knew about the secret relationship (which was not actually a relationship but sort of all the same… and this is getting confusing) that the two had.

"...and you're wrong. I know that you may only see him as Monarch's son, but he is much more than that. Adrien is nothing like his father."

A sigh of relief that could shake the surrounding buildings escaped the feline's mouth: she didn't join the dots about him knowing more than he should.

"I know you had to fight against his father for years. It was not fair for you and Ladybug, you were only children after all… but Adrien has nothing to do with what you had to go through. So if you're going to judge me for supporting him and helping him overcome his grief, don't bother." The way she fought her heart out to support him left him speechless; he didn't know she held him in such high esteem.

"Adrien is a very good friend." She kept talking about him with an inflexible pitch.

Her determination only increased the full extent of her words and the hero soon fell off the wagon: he was a very good friend. A friend. A friend who she slept with. Nothing more. It was his idea in the first place, so he couldn't hold it against her for respecting the rules they had put in place and which he truthfully struggled to follow.

"Marinette." Chat Noir whispered, stopping her never-ending rambling about their friendship. "Your friend is lucky to have you." The sound of thunder clattering in the sky muffled his words. He hoped she had heard them because he meant them with all his soul.

Marinette readjusted her sports bag back on her shoulder and wiped a lonely tear from her cheek. "I should go. The rain is coming this way." At that very moment, raindrops started to pour down on them. "It was... nice to see you… Chato-Chat Noir."

"It goes both ways." He smiled fondly at her and stood still, not sure if he should go for a handshake or a cheek kiss. Or perhaps just a salute? Going for the less weird goodbye (in his opinion) before they ended up soaking wet, Chat Noir took a step back and saluted her with two fingers on the forehead. "Good night, Marinette."

Somehow, there was an awkward, palpable tension hanging between them and he didn't know what to make of it. He remembered the words she had told Adrien earlier about Chat Noir and about lying to herself… It didn't make sense if you asked him. She barely knew him. He must have misunderstood.

"Night, Chat Noir." She was already turning her heels and making his way toward his apartment while his eyes were intently lingering on her back.

Luckily he had some trouble taking his eyes off her even though the rain was soaking him. A short moment later, Marinette slipped and stumbled backwards, causing him to switch on auto-pilot mode and pounce forward.

Marinette was a full-fledged storm of emotions right now.

No puns intended with the bad weather. She wasn't in a mood for joking around with her miserable luck.

Speaking of Ladybug luck, she huffed for herself as she headed for Adrien's apartment.

Stumbling on her partner (twice) when she just wanted to brood about her poor fate wasn't planned at all. Even less after he had told her about the other woman and that the thought of him loving someone else brought her to sheer tears alone in the dark. And as if it hadn't been enough to torture her, now an old crisps bag with his partner's smug face on it, washed away by the wind and rain, had to get in her way and mock her…sort of.

Marinette groaned at the sight and swung her foot forward, kicking the damn thing away. Yet, the rain ruined her purpose as her shoe slipped on the crisps bag instead and made her lose her balance. Her eyes fell shut as she braced for the impact and another time making a fool of herself in front of one of her men—she was used to it by now thanks to years of practice.

Although she felt herself falling, she never met the ground. Two strong arms and a welcoming body briskly got in the way and cushioned her fall.

"It's okay, I got you." Her partner's soothing voice seeped into her ears.

She only reopened her eyes once the earth seemed completely still around her and when she felt reassured enough by her faithful savior. His body, solid shield between hers and the cold, damp sidewalk, cradled her petite silhouette in safety. It feels like a hug given to soothe the torment of a bad day. The kind of hug that brought back the overflow of emotions bottled up for far too long. His mesmerizing green eyes filled with concern immediately caught her shining bluebell. The tears had rushed back into her eyes, the closeness they now shared not helping keeping herself in check.

"Did I hurt you?" The sound of concern in her Chaton's voice was immediate.

One of his hands cupped her cheek, his thumb gingerly skimming her skin and brushing the wetness away. He mimicked the gesture on the other side of her face even though it was pretty useless; it was still raining cats and dogs on them. Ending up in her raven mane, his claws replaced a soaked, rebellious hairlock behind her ear. The intensity with which his gaze scanned every inch of her face took the words out of her. She was unable to assure him that he hadn't hurt her—at least not physically... Emotionally though, she had another story to tell where he most likely held the first role.

"Princess, you okay?"

The way he didn't bite on the first cat pun he could have made sounded so wrong; it eventually stirred back some sense of awareness.

Marinette weakly blinked at him, realizing his face was mere millimeters away from hers. His moist breath fanned her nose and his wild locks were dripping from cold water straight over her forehead. She didn't move despite the cold brought by the awful weather in the surrounding air and the wetness covering her whole face. Actually, a sense of warmth radiated from her partner and kept her rooted on the spot. It felt nice.

And just like that, her thoughts raced through her head again, unable to keep quiet as they rang a bunch of alarms in their path. But in spite of all the bells ringing in her head, it was only when the thunder loudly rumbled around that Marinette's eyes suddenly popped out of their socket while she realized she was intently ogling her partner's lips. Her eyes flicked to his, distress filling them and she hastily crawled backward. Pulling out from under him, she abruptly got back on her feet.

"You hurt. I mean–I'm not hurt, uh– I need to kiss you–I miss you. Wait, uh– I mean, I need to leave you," she stumbled over her words like any random prepubescent girl swooning over her superhero partner.

She felt the bile gather in her throat at the prospect she was making her fool of herself again. Not only was she word-vomiting; she would also soon throw up on the sidewalk if her heart didn't stop to play rollercoaster in her guts.

"Good bye, Chat Noir," Marinette whispered, balling her fist tight around the strap of her bag and heading straight for Adrien's place without ever looking back. He can never be Marinette's Chaton.

See you next week. Miraculous Kisses.