Discordant Sonata

Chapter 12: Andante (Part 1 of 4)

But now that she was older, she'd finally gathered enough courage to ask him: Why hadn't he revealed Chat's identity to her years ago? With enough luck, she might have been able to steal back his miraculous when he wasn't transformed while he was out of the house. So, why hadn't he told her?

Fu's answer had been remarkably simple: He'd wanted Chat to have a relatively normal life outside of the mask. He'd always held out hope that Chat would turn away from his unrighteous deeds on his own. Having people around him that treated him kindly and that he could trust would give him the courage to do so. If he didn't have that, he would have felt that he had nowhere to turn to, and no choice but to remain as he was.

Fu added that if she'd had any contact with Chat, either as herself or as Ladybug, she would have treated him differently, possibly with hostility. Marinette had wanted to deny it at first, but she knew he was right. She would have treated him differently. Probably would've avoided him, spoken to him harshly, given him dirty looks from across the street. She might have even tried to convince her friends that he wasn't a good person, much like her situation with Lila. Not that that had ever worked; that girl was just way too deceptive. After all these years, she'd given up on even trying. Without any concrete evidence, Marinette's claims that Lila was a rotten liar wouldn't convince anyone, except thankfully for Alya and Nino; but even they had been skeptical at first.

In any case, Marinette would have most likely become angry, cold, or maybe even embittered towards Chat if she wasn't able to retrieve his miraculous right away. And Chat would've responded with confusion, hurt, and resentment towards both her and Ladybug, permanently eliminating any chance to become partners.

The troubled girl sighed wearily, walking towards the downstairs bathroom with a basket full of supplies for their feline guest, still mulling over her earlier discussion. There just had to be other options she hadn't considered yet–

Still distracted, deliberating the myriad of possibilities and worrying over every potential outcome, Marinette swung the bathroom door open... only to be greeted by a tall, toned, and very much bare backside, whose modesty was barely concealed by a small towel wrapped around the waist. Rivulets of water coursed down the valleys and ripples of the lightly tanned skin, and her eyes couldn't help but follow them down their path, gracefully gliding from the tops of the broad shoulders, still rosy and glowing from the shower's hot water, and disappearing into the edges of the towel, which rode low along the hips. The shock of damp, golden hair gave Marinette the confirmation of who exactly the stranger in her bathroom was. Practically tripping over her feet, she slammed the door shut, a loud screech abruptly escaping her throat.

"OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH, I AM SOOOO SORRY!!!" she yelled in between pants. "I thought the bathroom was empty!!! I was just gonna drop off some muscles— I mean toilets— I mean toiletries!!! I'll just... leave them here outside the door! SORRYAGAIN, BYE!!!"

Marinette sprinted all the way to her bedroom and plopped like a dead fish onto her chaise, letting out a long, shrill whine into the cushions. She flopped over onto her back, shoving a throw pillow onto her face, and considered smothering herself out of existence in order to avoid having to face Chat Noir ever again. Maybe she'd come back to Earth reincarnated as an actual ladybug, and she could flee from the city to go live in the country. Cannes was supposed to be nice this time of year.

Before her plans could come to fruition, specifically the one about becoming the insect she already felt like, she sluggishly removed the pillow from her face to get some air.

Only to be greeted by a small, floating... cat??

No, not a cat.

A kwami.