The Ace-ing on the Cake : A Mlb Fanfic

Chapter 6 : Crush

The first few links were news articles or blogs about rekindling love in a marriage. Chat wrinkled his nose and smiled when he heard Marinette scoff under her breath. She slowly scrolled down, eyes narrowed intently, before stopping and hovering the cursor over one particular link. It was another news site, but the blurb underneath looked a little more promising and mentioned a word that Chat had never heard of before.

"What's asexuality?" he asked, unsure whether he was even pronouncing it right.

Marinette shrugged, pigtails bouncing. "I don't know. Let's see." She clicked on the link and they both leaned in closer.

The article was brief, only a couple hundred words long, but it talked about a growing percentage of the population that didn't experience sexual attraction and who were perfectly content with it. Apparently, these people used the label 'asexual' to define themselves. Chat raised his eyebrows, a flicker of excitement curling through him. That... that sort of sounded like him.

"Asexual," Marinette said softly. She opened up a new tab and typed the word in.

The first three things to come up was a dictionary definition, a Wikipedia page, and an online article. Marinette clicked on the Wikipedia article. Chat scanned it quickly, his heart starting to pound, but he was still confused.

"So like, does that mean you can't be asexual if you find people attractive at all?" he asked Marinette. "Because I still think there are beautiful people out there... My Lady, for example."

"I don't think so. Look here." Marinette pointed to the screen. "It says there are different types of attraction. There's romantic, sensual, emotional, aesthetic... wow, I didn't realize that there were so many kinds. Maybe this is what you feel for Ladybug." And she ran her finger under the definition for romantic attraction, which was about having crushes and desiring a romantic relationship with someone.

Chat had to admit, it fit. So did sensual attraction, which seemed to be about wanting to touch, hold or cuddle someone. "I didn't know there were different kinds of attraction either," he admitted, feeling a little foolish. Of course there was! Sexual attraction wasn't the only thing that mattered. It just seemed that way.

"This is really cool," Marinette whispered, scrolling further down the page. "I guess when Alix said she was bisexual, she mentioned that there were other sexualities too... but I didn't really pay much attention."

He hadn't either. Now Chat regretted that. Maybe he wasn't broken after all. He held his breath as Marinette passed a section that talked about how asexuals could still have a libido – they carefully didn't look at each other, and Chat resolved to research that part of it later on his own – until they got to a section that Marinette grab his arm.

"Look! It says that asexual people can still have relationships!"

"Without sex?" Chat said doubtfully. "I'm sorry, I just have a really hard time picturing Ni – err, my best friend being okay with not having sex with his girlfriend."

Marinette slumped a little. "Yeah... but maybe it would be different if they really loved you," she said hopefully.

"Maybe," Chat said, but he wasn't holding out much hope. And he could tell that by the look on Marinette's face, she wasn't either. He groped around for something encouraging and settled on: "But you're different, Marinette. You said you're not entirely opposed to the idea of having sex, right?"

"I don't know. I'd have to think about it," she said. "But... wouldn't my partner... uh, that is, my crush deserve better than someone who wasn't sexually attracted to them?" She looked to him for an answer. "And beside, I also said I thought that once in a while I might have felt that way towards him. I can't be sure, but doesn't that mean I can't be asexual?"

"Uh," Chat said. In search of help, he glanced back down at the screen. "Wait, what's that?"

Distracted, Marinette followed his gaze. "What? Asexual sub-identities?" As she spoke, she clicked on the link and they both looked at the new screen that had come up.

And then, very softly, Marinette said, "Oh."

Gray-asexual and demisexual... more terms that Chat had never heard of. He would never have guessed that the realm of sexuality could be so varied! He scanned the definitions, realizing that each one seemed to depend on how much sexual attraction a person felt. A gray-asexual was someone who only felt sexual attraction rarely, or at such a low level that it was nearly non-existent. Demisexual people only felt attraction after a bond had been formed, such as friendship.

"Gray-asexual sounds like you," Chat said before he could stop himself.

"It... sort of does, doesn't it?" Marinette said in a wondering tone. She cocked her head. "Doesn't it sound indecisive, though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like a cop-out. I can't make up my mind, so I'm deciding to hide in a gray area," Marinette said, a frown crossing her face.

Chat shook his head. "Not at all! Think about it, Marinette. There are tons of different sexualities. Do you really believe everyone should slot neatly into a yes or no? That's not really how it works. Of course some people fall into the gray area in between. I bet there are tons of people like you. You wouldn't say that to them, would you?"

"Well, no." Marinette was quiet for a moment, re-reading the screen.

"You don't have to use it as a label if you don't want to," Chat said. "I... I think I'm asexual, though." It felt weird to say that out loud. Weird, but good. Like a weight being taken off his shoulders. He couldn't believe that he wasn't alone. This was an actual thing!

"Actually, you're ace," Marinette said with a shy smile. "That's the shorthand."

"Ace, huh." Chat smirked. "That makes sense. I am Ladybug's ace in the hole."

Marinette's head snapped up and she looked at him with an expression of pure horror. "Please, no."

"Sorry. You're just going to have to face facts," Chat said, grin widening.

"Oh my god," Marinette said.

"Learn to embrace it, Marinette!"

"Please stop."

"Don't be so sour. I'm the ace-ing on the cake!"

"You're definitely a menace," Marinette said dryly.

Chat cackled. "Ooh, good one. I'll have to remember that!"

"I feel so bad for Ladybug," she whispered, shaking her head as she closed her laptop and hugged it to her chest.

"Don't. I doubt I'll tell her," Chat said, some of his good humor disappearing. He really had to think about Ladybug and what he felt for her, and what this potentially meant for the future he'd always hoped for.

"I would tell you again that you should, but at this point that would make me a hypocrite," Marinette said. "I sure as hell don't plan to tell my crush about this."

"He'd be lucky to have you, you know," Chat told her.

She smiled. "Thanks, but I'm pretty sure you're bi-ace-d."

"Oh my god!" Chat exclaimed, nearly knocking the plate of squares off his lap when he threw his hands up.

Marinette laughed. "And on that note, I'm going to bed. It's late and I'm really tired." She looked wryly at the squares. "I shouldn't have given you those; you'll be up for hours."

"Nah. I'll burn it off doing patrol. It's my night, anyway," Chat replied. "Do you mind if I leave these here for a bit? I'll pick them up on my way back."

"Of course. Good night, Chat." Marinette stood up.

He stood too. "Good night. And Marinette, thanks."

She flashed him another smile. "No problem."

Chat smiled back and jumped off the balcony. He did a quick rooftop patrol, but Paris was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night – then again, it was early. Roughly forty-five minutes after leaving Marinette's, he backtracked to pick up his treat. When he got back to her balcony, he found that she had put the squares into a secure container for him. There was a note on top.

For a great superhero and an even better accompl-ace. Bonsoir, Chat Noir.