Time skip, LB's PoV
"Pound it!" The two of us smiled at eachother, proud of our work. I was panting ever-so-slightly, but Chat Noir looked just as perfect as ever. I blinked at the thought that passed through my mind, pushing it away with a shake of my head. I can't be thinking things like that, not when I haven't told him my situation.
"So, Bugaboo... anything new lately?" The blond says with a smirk while wiggling his eyebrows. Clearly he had forgotten I was in a hurry. While I knew I hadn't spent much time with him lately, I couldn't do this right now. His words made me want to tell him even more, but it wasn't the right time yet.
My face contorted for a moment and I swallowed nervously, hands hanging by my sides with a slight tremor to them. "Look, uh—" I paused, not being able to meet his eyes, "I don't really have the time for this right now, could I maybe put you on hold?" My gloved hands rubbed at my legs now, head bowed deeply. I'm sorry, Chaton, I thought to myself, soon enough.
"O-oh— Yeah, yeah, of course! I'll just uhm," I could feel his eyes on me, watching my every move, "I'll..see you later then." His voice hitches, and he clears his throat before taking a running start and skipping across the Parisian rooftops. I breathe a deep breath, a tinge of guilt racking over me, barely containing a sob. I knew I was causing the relationship between us to sour, but I had more important things to deal with.
A ringing tone comes from my yo-yo as I sulk into an alleyway, and I press the screen to stop the alarm. It had only been an hour since I left Alya but I couldn't help but feel horrible for it. She hadn't exactly taken the news very well. Her initial reaction was to laugh loudly and hysterically, commenting how her best friend being pregnant couldn't possibly be true. Then, when I couldn't look her in the face, her next reaction was anger, disbelief. "Tikki, spots off." I spoke softly, as if afraid of my own voice.
I sniffle and wipe my eyes dry before walking back home, trying to contain myself before reaching the trap door to my bedroom, pushing it open to reveal a nervous looking Alya sitting on my chaise. Her eyes dart to meet mine before she stands and clutches me in a soul crushing hug. Then, I let it all out, being unable to contain the stress and emotion any longer. I couldn't believe I had kept this information from her for so long, and on top of that, told Adrien before my own best friend.
Through sobs I tried apologizing, wiping my nose in an attempt to keep snot off Alya's clothes. "Shut up! It's fine." Alya smacks my back lightly, leaving a light stinging feeling, sniffling as well before pulling away, eyes red and swollen. "I'm sorry for reacting like I did— I just-" Her lip trembles as she speaks, "It was just hard for me to grasp, that's all..." There was a long pause between the two of us before we both start laughing tearily. "Cmon," Alya urges, taking my hand and pulling me onto the chaise to sit together with her. "If you don't want to talk about it right now, I understand, but eventually I'm going to have to find out."
Here goes, I thought. Clearing my throat and taking a breather one last time, I placed my hands firmly in my lap, picking at my cuticles. "I can't tell you who the dad is right now..." She wouldn't believe a word I was saying if I told her I let the Chat Noir...do me. I glanced up to see Alya's expression, who had knit her eyebrows together but nodded understandingly. It was clear she was itching to know more, so I continued.
"Do you remember that akuma that made us profess our love? It happened that night. I wasn't affected by the magic, but he was—" Saying all of this out loud felt so surreal, unnatural coming from my mouth. I felt like I was confessing all of my sins, which surely this was one. "One thing led to another... I took a test, and it came back positive." I spoke speedily, trying to get it over with. She placed her hand on top of my shaking ones, and gave me a strong look. Her fingers were cold and her hands were soft, it was a comforting contrast to my hot, clammy hands.
"We can get through this, Marinette. Together." She said it so confidently, as if she knew exactly how to handle it, as if she's done this before. No, surely not. I told myself. "I do have one question though," she started, "What are your plans?"
I give her a blank look for a moment, still processing the fact I just told my best friend I had sex for the first time and got pregnant from it, "My plans?"
"Like, what are you going to do with it?" Alya made a gesture toward my stomach, and I instinctively tried to cover it, though there was nothing to hide yet.
"Oh, uhm— a-abortion really isn't something I would consider..? It's just n-not for me." My voice trembles as I ponder the idea for a moment. I couldn't imagine doing that, not in a million years.
She nods, as if carefully analyzing the information before saying something else, "Is that because you don't believe in it? Or..?" I knew she was trying to be respectful of the situation, but now might not have been the time to ask someone that. Good thing I knew she meant no harm, and was only trying to grasp the situation better.
"No, no. Nothing like that. I just don't think it's the right move for me, personally."
A lull, and out of nervousness I speak up again, "Adoption doesn't seem right to me either. The system is screwed, and if I'm gonna have a kid at all, I want to keep them." The truth is, I had never thought this far into having children. I knew I wanted three, but that was only hypothetical, and especially didn't want one at age 17. I was confident of my answers though, it was the truth. I got myself into this mess, now I needed to own up to it and learn from my mistakes. Adrien was right, some day I won't see this as a bad thing...but in that moment, I couldn't help but feel a nervousness in my gut. I had never had to make such a big decision in my life, and now I have no choice but to decide, and soon.
"Hello?" Alya sing-songs, waving a hand in front of my face. I blink and shake my head, pulling myself out of my thoughts.
"Huh?"
"Huh?" She mimicked, with a playful snicker. "I asked who knows. Have you told anyone? Like your parents, maybe?" Her caramel eyes watch me closely, gently.
My lip twitches, "Oh, uh..." Please don't get jealous, please don't get jealous, please— "Yeah, actually. But also, no." I bite my lip, tearing at some loose skin, "I told Adrien yesterday."
"YOU DID WHAT?" She might as well have yelled into my ears, causing me to cover them and look at her slightly apologetically. "Is that why—"
"Yeah.."
"And he called-?"
"...Mhm."
She slouched in on herself, relaxing her tensed muscles and sat dumbfounded. "And here I was, thinking your big surprise was that the two of you were dating. What a turn of events." The dots were seeming to connect in her mind now, and I felt like she was pulling me apart piece by piece, learning all my darkest secrets. "So you're saying you told Adrien first, the dad doesn't know, and you have till yet to say anything to your parents?"
"Right— but saying it like that makes it sound a little..." I didn't even have words to describe how it made me feel. All I knew is that I had a living being growing inside of me and I was extremely uncomfortable.
"How was it?" She gave me a wide, devilish smirk, and tried wiggling her eyebrows, failing miserably. I let out a chuckle at her attempt.
"Y'know, I think that's enough talk about this for today let's go find something to d—" I was promptly cut off by her fingers on my lips while she shook her head in disappointment.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." My mouth flew open, and my eyes grew wide. HER WHAT NOW?
"W-WELL— I—" There were no words that could describe my shock and disbelief in that moment, I was so caught off guard by that comment that I just started laughing. Partly nervously, partly because it was funny.
"Okay, this may be TMI, but Nino?" She took a breath of air through her teeth, "Let's just say, I'm gonna have to do some work with him."
"ALYA CÉSAIRE! Oh my god!!" She just giggled and rolled around while I laughed.
"This is a girl's weekend, right? Aren't we supposed to talk about girly things? C'mon! It's your turn." I looked around my room for a while, trying to find the words. Ones that wouldn't embarrass me too badly.
"It.. was kind of good, honestly. He seemed to know what to do, I kinda just let him take over."
She gasped loudly and yelled, "LUCKY!!" A bright blush spread across my face and I couldn't contain myself, giggling at the thought of it all again. I was glad we were able to make light of the situation though.
Sunday night, Monday morning
Adrien called me earlier today to congratulate me on telling Alya about my pregnancy. He said it was the first of many steps to the process, and he was proud of me. However, it's about midnight now, and I'm having hot flashes, and have been throwing up every few hours from the nausea. Tikki held a cold and wet towel on my forehead, occasionally lifting it and doing her best to gently tap my cheeks and wipe my neck with it. I appreciated her help, but she was splashing droplets of water all over me. "Thank you," I said gently, and a little breathlessly, while taking it from her nubs.
She smiled sweetly, "I don't really know how to help, but I want to at least try." My heart pangs for a moment.
"You don't have to, I'm the one that got myself into this mess." I said, shuffling toward the end of my bed to walk to the bathroom.
"Well, not really." I gave her a confused look, opening the trapdoor and making my way down the steps as quiet as possible as to not wake my parents whom had just gotten back from their weekend trip. "If you think about it, the akuma is the one that caused all of this to happen. You and Chat Noir are sensible enough to not...you know."
"So.." I sat myself on the edge of the tub, holding my stomach in an attempt to make myself feel better. It didn't work. "I should blame Hawkmoth...for me being pregnant?"
She giggled, "No, not quite. That does sound silly though. I guess what I was meaning was that you didn't really have a choice either way. I'm happy it turned out well instead of— what's the word humans use?" A cold chill ran down my spine. I knew she was right. If I had not wanted Chat to come down on me, the truth is that the spell would've still made him do it.
I didn't want to say the word. Even the sheer thought of Chat Noir being that way was terrifying. Tikki, seemingly noticing my uncomfortability toward the conversation, let it go, and tried changing the topic.
"Maybe you should talk to him this week. It would do you some good." Feeling the bile make its way up my throat, I shake my head, eyes squeezed shut.
"I'm not ready to tell him, I can't." I felt her touch my face, and opened my eyes to see her head right at my nose, making me go cross eyed.
"No, Marinette. Just to talk. About you, about your feelings. Maybe it would help if you knew some more about him, about what he remembers, if at all?" She had a point, but it was still a worrying thought.
"I'll think about it." I said, standing to undress myself for a shower. I was covered in sweat from the day, and I had sent Alya home hours ago. I just hadn't had the motivation or felt well enough to move very much besides constant up and down to throw up in the toilet. I was starting to consider sleeping on the bathroom floor for the night.
As I turned the faucet on to the shower, I heard a knock on the bathroom door, "Marinette? Are you okay in there?" Wrapping a towel around myself, I open it to see who it is. My parents, visibly exhausted, stand worried outside the door. I know I look like a mess, but they've seen me in worse states so I let it slide.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine- just been feeling a bit sick today is all.." They look at eachother and then back at me with tight lips, and my mother nods.
"Okay, but if you need us for anything- anything at all, you can always tell us." Papa nods along with her, his lips upturned in a gentle smile as if to reassure me.
"Thank you. You should go to bed, I'll be alright." I waved them goodnight and closed the door again before stepping into the shower. My mind ran a million miles a minute and my heart raced. What the hell was that? What do they mean, 'you can tell us'? Surely they didn't know. How could they, I've been quiet about it, haven't I? I thought I'd been keeping a well hidden secret. I've gotten pretty good at that over the years with being Ladybug and all.
I let the water trickle down my frame and cover my body completely as I zoned out. It wasn't until I felt the water start to become cold that I realized I had been thinking, standing in the shower that whole time.
Monday, at school
"Aww, poor little Marinette, too sick to graduate. How unfortunate!" Chloe loudly whispers into Sabrina's ear. Sabrina doesn't look too happy with the comment her friend made, but she still half laughs at it as if she thought it was funny. She must have been tired of Chloe's antics by now. They had been inseparable since kindergarten, Chloe treating Sabrina like trash all the time.
"That wasn't very nice, Chloe," Mrs. Bustier says as she walks into our classroom, a handful of papers that looked like a stack of quizzes for the day, but she set them down in front of me. She spoke in a low tone, "These are just so you can get caught up in case if you take any more sick days. Something tells me you will be." She gave me a pitiful look before heading back to her desk, everyone's eyes on me, leaving me a blushed, embarrassed mess. What gave off the impression that I would be getting sick again? How would she know that? It could've just seemed like a stomach bug. "As you all may very well know, today is testing day. I'm going to need you all to put everything on your desks aside, and bring out a pencil. No, Kim, you may not use a mechanical pencil."
A very audible groan sounded behind the class which caused a couple snickers here and there, including from myself. Just a little while longer and I probably won't be seeing these people again. I'm happy we were able to make so many memories along the way.
After our test had ended, I took a look around the room to see who all seemed confident in their answers. I heard Alya huff next to me a couple times while we were working, so I already had a feeling I knew how she felt. I wasn't too confident about mine either, but luckily I remembered a good bit of the material, so, fingers crossed that I passed.
"Marinette, could I talk to you after class?" A hushed voice spoke in front of me, belonging to the one, the only, Adrien Agreste. All I could do was nod, knowing what this was possibly about. I saw Nino give him a look of curiosity before shrugging and returning to his phone that was hidden under the table.
As time passed, my attention span faded from the instructional video that played on the board up front and soon enough, I heard the bell ring and the shuffle of bags and feet passing me down the steps. Adrien looked at me, checking to see if I was ready before leading me out into the hallway. We descended the steps and slunk next to the wall, careful of any passersby.
"Any updates?" He asks, probably expecting to hear that I told someone, anybody about... I'm still getting used to trying to say it..
"I think my parents know?" I said, questioningly. I still wasn't sure if they really did know or not. "They said something weird last night that made me think they might know..."
He nodded, consuming the information, "Have you considered telling them now that you think that?"
"Yes, but it's taking a while to work up the courage for it. It still may be a moment before I get around to doing that." A run my hands down my pant legs, wiping the sweat that had collected on them. I couldn't tell if it was because of Adrien that I was nervous, or the conversation.
"Do you think you'd talk to you know who anytime soon?" He flicked a spot near the middle of his collarbones, trying to indicate flicking a bell. Chat Noir's bell.
"I was going to try talking to him soon, just needed to find a way to contact him. He kind of just shows up randomly, that's how we've hung out in the past. Very cat-like." He didn't need that much information, Marinette. It's fine though, just don't overthink your interaction with Adrien. The Adrien Agreste. I could feel a heat rise up to my ears, and I quickly break eye contact from him.
"Well, lucky for you, I just so happen to be a friend of his, remember?" He smiled sweetly, genuinely. It makes me want to hold him to my chest and rock him back and forth until he falls aslee— What am I thinking? "I'll let him know you want to talk to him. How's tonight sound?" I think about it for a moment, trying to think of some excuse or lie, but nothing comes.
"That sounds fine, will you be there too?"
"Uuh— No, I have to go to sleep early tonight, you know, model things." He rubs his hand on the back of his head, ruffling his beautiful golden locks, I just want to run my hands through them and— Nope. Adrien shouldn't be on your mind anymore, Chat Noir is literally the father of your baby and you're still fantasizing about Adrien? Jeez, Marinette, get over yourself.
"Okay," I say, as if I haven't been thinking about a totally different thing this entire conversation. "Tonight then." I nod, trying to bring myself back to reality. "I'll see you tomorrow, thank you Adrien."
"Of course, I'm always here for you." Always. The thought makes me giddy, making my heart skip a beat as I stand to walk back home.
The first thing I do when I sit down is look through the stack of papers my teacher gave me. It looks like the next week of homework is among the pile, so I begin working on that.
Losing track of time can become easy when you're doing everything you can to get your mind off of something. It was now dark outside, I could hear my parents watching the tv downstairs, occasionally laughing at the cheesy jokes. I hope to be as good of parents as they are someday.
Just as that thought leaves my mind, a familiar rapping comes from the sunroof trapdoor above my bed. I stand, stretching and allowing my bones to crack from the strenuous hours of nonsense homework working.
Green eyes glow through the darkness, pupils large to adjust to the dim lighting, becoming smaller as I open the trap door for him. As he climbs onto my bed, I scoot backward to give him some space. "Hey," I say, timidly.
He smiles wide, "Hey, Purrincess. You wanted to see me?" His smile calms my nerves, and I relax into my bed, watching as he does the same, not so far away from me.
"Yeah, I just wanted to see you." I half joked, smiling, looking at his lips. Oh, how badly I wished I could kiss them right now.
"That's good news for me, because I wanted to see you too. You look amazing, by the way."
"What? No," I start, looking at what I'm wearing. I had put myself into my pajamas before starting my homework. Just a simple tank top and sweatpants. My hair was down too, but I was almost positive it looked like a mess. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something."
I could see his eyes flick from my lips to my eyes for a moment, but I pushed the thought away. He wouldn't be doing that. He probably just sees me as a friend. "Oh, and what's that?" His tone seemed suggestive, maybe I wasn't imagining it.
"You.." I say, my mind trailing off.
"Me?" He presses a claw to his chest, beginning to lean forward. This is crazy, I shouldn't be doing this—
"How you feel.." Words? I don't have them. My mind is going a million miles per second and the only thing I'm running off of is how good he felt— how warm he was afterward, how his scent was coated in something of peppermint and pine. I can't believe I'm doing this. I lean forward and press my lips to his for a moment, pulling back, taking a long look at his lips before meeting eyes with him. His eyes are half lidded, almost drowsily. He closes them before leaning back into me, pressing his body onto mine and kissing me desperately as if he had been waiting for this moment his whole life. Which, to him, it might have felt that way. To me, I wasn't experiencing anything new, but it didn't feel any less important. He pushes me back onto the bed, separating our lips. He swipes my bottom lip with his thumb, the leather sliding along it easily.
"Does that answer your question?" He says, mere inches from my face. I could feel his breath on my skin, it caused me to get goosebumps, my body becoming a little jittery now. All I can do is nod, pulling his hips down onto mine to where he was laying on top of me. The weight of his body was by no means heavy. Instead, it was as if it was meant for me, a perfectly comfortable weight, making me feel safe underneath him. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, giving me a good look in the face. My hands still rested on his hips and I squeezed them lightly, watching him shudder a little, looking away from my face with a deep exhale. It was only then that I could see the dark red blush smudged across his face. He was warm too, small beads of sweat working to form on his temples. My body felt hot as well, and I was sure my face was even more red. He looked back up at me to meet my eyes again, before we both started laughing softly. My hands trail up his back and he gently lays himself down onto me.
"So that's it," he says, his voice low and gravely. "That's how I feel." I run a hand through his hair, gently gripping at his scalp here and there. His head lays on my chest, just in front of my face. I leave a kiss on the top of his head before nuzzling further into him.
We sat in comfortable silence for a while, just enjoying being in each others proximity. As I started to feel myself fall asleep, I manage to mutter the words, "Do you remember the love akuma?" And in my tired, delirious state, I could've sworn I felt him nod his head just before I fell asleep.
——————
3-14-23
Guys I'm 18 now- wow so crazy
Thank you for all your continued support, I have no idea when I'll update this next but I hope you enjoyed it