Half Way

A Midnight Discussion, A Roommate and A Promise

An eternity and a half passed by until the clock struck midnight.

Adrien was standing at the window when Ladybug arrived. She didn't even have time to detransform before he grabbed her and kissed her passionately. "I'm sorry," he said, out of breath as he pulled away. "But I couldn't wait."

"It's okay, I understand," Ladybug murmured, leaning in to give him another kiss. "Alright if I detransform now?" she asked.

"Yes, please."

With a smile she said the words and released the transformation.

"I love you Marinette," he said as soon as he saw her.

"I love you too." She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "How did dinner go?"

"It was fine. My father wasn't there."

She furrowed her brow. "He didn't eat dinner with you?"

"He never does. He's only been there lately because of you. I'm not a good enough reason for him to take time off from his work."

"Ad... Adrien, that's not true," she sputtered.

"It is true. I keep trying to tell you Marinette, my father has never cared about me. My mom is the only person he's ever loved. Besides himself of course," he scoffed.

"Please don't say those things. He does love you, he just doesn't express it."

Adrien tilted his head and smiled slightly as he looked at her. "This is one of the reasons why I love you so much, Princess. You always want to see the good in people, even when it's not there."

"He does love you..." she tried again, but Adrien cut her off.

"If he finds out that I'm Chat Noir and he thinks that I have my ring, do you seriously think that he would wait even one second before storming in here and trying to take it away?"

Marinette stared at him.

"Well?" he asked.

"I don't know," she whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

Sadness overcame him when he realized that he was upsetting her. "I... I'm so sorry Marinette. Please forgive me, you're so wonderful. Let... let's talk about something else." He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry Princess. Please, don't be upset."

She nodded into his shoulder as she held onto him.

He leaned back to look at her. "Let's go lie down and we can talk."

With another nod she let him guide her to his bed. He pulled back the covers and they both climbed in.

She blew out a breath as she turned on her side to face him. "I should tell you what happened a couple of months ago."

"Go ahead," he said.

"You're not going to be happy, but it's time that you knew. A couple of months ago, I made a stupid mistake and you... I mean, Chat Noir... ended up getting akumatized because of it."

"What?" he asked, confused.

"It's true. You don't remember it because Bunnix brought me back in time to fix the mistake, and everything was redone."

He blinked a few times. "I was akumatized?"

She nodded. "Yeah, you became Chat Blanc and horrible things happened. That's why I had to go back and stop it." After a moment's pause she continued. "And that's why I freaked out when I first found out that you're Chat Noir."