The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Not as fluffy as you might think

from a dialogue prompt i found on instagram

"Oh my god! You're in love with her!"

The exclamation startled Adrien so much that he snapped (nearly wrote snaped lmao) out of his dazed daydreaming and whipped his head around to stare at the girl beside him. Her blue eyes were wide with disbelief and horror, mouth dropped in shock. She was even trembling slightly.

Adrien instantly panicked. "W-what?! M-me, in l-love, w-with whom?!"An awkward laugh escaped his lips, watching in slight terror as she showed no sign of calming down. 

Oh wait...

The trembling stopped. Her eyes closed as her posture sagged with a sigh. "You're really in love with her." She hugged her arms, eyes now downcast from her balcony to the streets below. "You really love Ladybug."

Adrien sighed exasperatedly, irritation beginning to encroach on his mind. "Yeah, so? What does it matter?" 

Marinette's fingers clenched around the handrail of her balcony. Over the past couple months, she'd become incredibly close with Adrien after finally getting over her stutter and awkwardness. Of course she knew about his crush on Ladybug - but she always assumed it was just a celebrity crush. A celebrity with a celebrity crush. It wasn't unreasonable. Besides, he'd only met Ladybug a couple times, right?

But... the way he smiled, the way he gazed off into the clouds with a dazed look in his eyes and a dreamy expression, the way his whole face lit up at just the mention of her... it reminded Marinette of how she used to react about Adrien. 

"I don't want to see you hurt." She tried to reason with her reaction, even if she didn't quite understand it herself. Or maybe she did, considering the screaming voice inside her head begging to be let out, screaming "I'm right here, I'm right here!" "Celebrity crushes can be-"

"It's not a celebrity crush!" He interrupted with a growl, his grip tightening on the handrail just as hers did earlier. With an angry breath, he loosened his fingers carefully. "You don't understand."

Marinette snorted. "I don't understand a crush? Please! My crush doesn't notice me, and I barely knew him and I was so certain I was in love with him, and I wasn't! It wasn't love, it was a stupid crush and I didn't know him like I thought I did, and god now that I know him better it's so difficult to get over once and for all!" She pushed off the railing, pacing and running her hand through her hair, barely noticing Adrien's gaze on her. "My stupid crush has pulled me down so far and slowed me down so much, and I just want to not love him like I do and it's so hard because I can't and he doesn't even look at me in that way! Even as a passing thought!"

Adrien's curiosity got the better of him. "Who is he?"

"Damn it, Adrien, he's you and that's why I know I don't have a chance and why I'm trying to get over you because you don't need some lovesick fangirl fawning over you every chance she gets and neither does Ladybug!" She finally met his eyes, pleading expression. "Adrien, she can't love you the way you love her because she's a hero! She- she's not supposed to put one life above someone else, she can't be thinking about you when her mind's supposed to be on the battle, she'll get distracted and could hurt someone!" Pulling slightly at her hair, she moved to sit down. "When you love someone, you're prepared to lose everything for them. She can't afford to lose to Hawkmoth. She can't afford to lose her miraculous until her job is done. Maybe then, and only then, will she be prepared to love, but you wouldn't be first on her list." The panic and upset was replaced by anger. "What about him?"

Taken aback by her sudden change in tone, Adrien blinked. "Who?"

"Chat Noir!" Then she was on her feet again, this time marching close to Adrien's face and pushing hers towards his. "Chat Noir has loved Ladybug since the day they met. He's proved himself so many times to be worthy of her affections, he's put his life before hers. You've met her what, twice? That dumb cat has put everything he has on the line for her, you've barely spoken a word to her. If you think for one minute that you deserve her more than that amazing boy, then you're dead wrong and I really don't know you like I thought I did." She huffed out a furious breath. "I love that damn cat and he deserves so much more than he gets, and he deserves to be happy with her once this is all over."