This story takes place prior to Season 4 of "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir." I do not own the rights to any of the characters used within this story.
Author's Note:
Okay. I know this one is coming out later than some of my others. I had a busy weekend and then computer trouble, but we are back now.
Also, fun fact, this story... was originally going to be only 7 chapters long... And then the characters had different ideas. I thought Chapter 9 would be the last one, but I have been bamboozled again. Seems this story doesn't want me to put it down just yet. Unfortunately, we've reached the end of what I had originally planned. Updates may be a little slower coming, moving forward until I get some of my planning figured out again. But for now, have a sweet Ladynoir moment!
Thank you all for reading and sticking with me!
Chapter 9: Rooftop Confession
Ladybug sat and waited for Chat Noir. Usually, she was the one running late for patrol, but tonight her feline friend was fashionably late. She hoped he hadn't tried to stop in at her house to see Marinette on his way to patrol.
"It's probably for the best," she thought. "I can… think about how I want to tell him."
After her friends had all left, Marinette had told Tikki about what had happened while they were separated. She wasn't sure what reaction she had expected from the kwami, but she definitely wasn't expecting a sigh of relief.
"It's about time you found out," Tikki had said. "I was definitely shocked when I saw who he was while you faced Dark Owl, but since then I really couldn't stop seeing the similarities…"
"Yeah…" Marinette had been lost in a haze as her thoughts spiraled more and more around her partner's identity. Was it really that obvious? It must not have been, since it seemed like no one else in Paris knew… She had gritted her teeth in determination and told Tikki that she thought it was time that Adrien knew her identity too.
Of course, Tikki had been hesitant about the idea, but if Marinette already knew Chat Noir's identity, how long could she really expect the girl to be able to keep the two sides of Adrien separated?
"Marinette…" Tikki was hesitant before continuing. "What about what happened with Chat Blanc?"
This had made the girl stop her pacing around the room, frozen in place. Marinette felt every muscle in her body tense as the memory of her friend, clad in white and all alone with his pain, played through her mind. She forced herself to breath slowly, trying to calm her rising panic. She still had nightmares about that day. She didn't know what had happened after Adrien found out her identity other than the fact that it had caused so much destruction and devastation…
"Tikki…" Marinette's heart felt like it was pounding against her ribcage. "I… I don't know why Chat got akumatized and became Chat Blanc… But… if both of us know, maybe we can look out for each other. Protect each other… Maybe what happened to him was because I didn't know…" Her voice trailed off, still remembering that day.
Ladybug paced on the rooftop, remembering her conversation with her kwami before she'd headed out on patrol. Her thoughts were broken by Chat Noir's voice. "Hey, Buggaboo! Why the long face? You look far too serious for someone who spent the afternoon fighting a karaoke machine." The grin on his face seemed to be hiding something. Concern? Apprehension? Was he nervous to talk to Ladybug? Or was he more nervous about talking to Marinette after patrol?
"I was just thinking. Don't worry about it, Chaton." She gave him a half-hearted smile. "What about you? Why so late?"
Chat looked away, suddenly sheepish as he went to sit with his leg dangling over the edge of the roof. "W-well… I…" He was definitely nervous.
Ladybug sat cross-legged beside him, patting his shoulder. "It's okay, Chat. You don't need to tell me." She sighed, looking out over Paris. "I know it can be hard… Doing all of this while still trying to pretend to have a normal life…" She looked back at her partner. "I know keeping a secret identity is a lot to ask…"
"Yeah… About that…" She could see Chat Noir's blush under his mask. "I… I had to transform today unexpectedly. I SWEAR I was trying to save someone!" He looked away, and a smile played on his lips as he whispered, "Someone special…" He turned back to her, sincerity and panic in his eyes. "B-but she promised she wouldn't tell anyone!"
Ladybug had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling at how flustered he seemed. He wanted to be honest with her, and so he refused to keep Marinette's knowledge of his identity a secret. She forced her voice to remain calm, keeping any hint of her amusement out of her words as she spoke.
"Do you trust this person?"
Chat's response was immediate, as if he didn't even have to think about it. "Absolutely! I'd trust her with my life! In fact, it was her idea to use the statue to help bring down the akuma earlier!"
Ladybug nodded, trying to act the part of a team leader dealing with an issue. "You speak very highly of her."
His eyes seemed to drift away, looking at nothing in particular but seeing something anyway. "She's… really amazing. She's smart, dependable, talented, funny… I can trust her with anything, in or out of the mask…" He took a breath, and the next words he said seemed difficult for him to admit. "I… I think… I think I like her… quite a lot, actually… I think I've liked her for a long time, and I've just been too oblivious to notice…" Chat's green eyes focused back on Ladybug. "M'lady… I… I have loved you since the first moment we met… And I think there's a part of me that always will… But her… I think I've grown to love her beyond what words can truly describe…"
Ladybug felt her heart hammering inside her chest as she listened to her partner's confession of love for her own secret identity.
"Chat…" His name came out as a breathy whisper.
"I'm sorry, Ladybug… That's… well, that's part of why I was late… I didn't know how to tell you…"
"No, Chaton." She placed her hand on his cheek, pulling his eyes back to focus on hers. She smiled. "Chat, that was a beautiful confession. And… she seems like a very lucky girl to have gotten such lovely words from someone as wonderful as you."
The black cat hero blushed again as he stood up and looked away. "So… You're not mad?"
"Mad? How could I be mad after something like that?" She stood and placed her hand on his arm. "I'm glad you told me." A thought played at the back of her mind. "But, have you told this mysterious girl how you feel yet?"
The blush that had been a faint pink turned into a deep red under his mask. "I… Well… That is… I mean…" He sighed, hanging his head and slumping his shoulders. "No. I haven't… When I had the chance earlier, I was too nervous to say anything! And then she kissed me, and I just… I just turned away and left! Twice!" He threw his hands up in the air with a cry of frustration before covering his face. "I'm pathetic, aren't I?"
Ladybug couldn't help it anymore. She laughed. She laughed harder than she probably should have. But she couldn't help it. Is this how Alya had felt all those months when Marinette had been trying to confess to Adrien?
"Meow-ch! You don't have to laugh about it." Chat Noir crossed his arms over his chest in a mock pout.
"I'm sorry, Chat. It's just that… All this time you've been able to tell me so easily how you feel, but as soon as it's m-her that you're trying to tell, you become tongue-tied and nervous!"
"Hey! I meant every word I said to you! You're just easier to flirt with because you don't know how lame and uncool I am under the mask!"
That pulled Ladybug back down to reality a little bit. "Don't say that. I'm sure you're just as amazing and wonderful under the mask as you are right now." Chat rolled his eyes but didn't respond. Something in Ladybug hardened in that moment, and she felt determined to make this boy see just how much he mattered. "Okay, we better get on with patrol."
"Yeah, okay. You're right."
The two heroes leapt to the nearest rooftop, footsteps falling in sync as they ran.
