It was the last day of school for the students of Françoise Dupont High School, and they were all very excited to finally finish their Sophomore year and to get summer started. All of the students were planning to travel over the summer. That is, all except Marinette and Adrien. Adrien's father does not allow him to leave Paris so as to be at every photoshoot. He didn't mind, either way, because he would still be able to carry out his duties as Chat Noir, his superhero alter-ego. Marinette, on the other hand, was planning to stay home and enter Gabriel Agreste's internship competition. Starting tomorrow, all of the contestants would have four days to design and hand create an entire outfit. The winner would be Gabriel Agreste's intern and would spend every day working with him and learning from him. It was Marinette's dream to become a professional fashion designer, so she decided to stay in Paris so she could enter. She also took it as an opportunity to continue as Ladybug, her superhero alter-ego.
-Friday Night-
Marinette was sitting in her room dancing to the newest Jagged Stone album, Play for the Wicked , when she got a knock on her window. The blue-haired girl must have leaped a foot in the air at the sudden and startling sound and fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and dark blue hair. She quickly picked herself up, looked at the window, and gasped. She saw the amused smirk of a particular black cat. What is Chat doing here? she wondered as she walked to her window to open it. Chat Noir leaped into Marinette's room and grinned at her. Marinette quickly fixed her pigtails, that had become untidy when she had fallen, and tilted her head at the superhero. "Chat Noir? What are you doing here... in my room... at 9:30 at night?" she asked.
Chat gave the girl a kind smile. "I was bored at home and I saw your light on. Would it be okay if I hung out with you tonight? I don't want to put a stop to your dance party, though" he added, laughing. With that last statement, Marinette turned bright red as she realized that he had seen her dancing like a crazy person. "Don't worry, Marinette. It looked like you were having fun." He added when he saw her embarrassment.
Marinette calmed down a bit, she had practice holding back blushing after two years of having a crush on Adrien Agreste, and motioned for him to have a seat on her bed. He happily sat down and she sat next to him. She felt a little awkward because she didn't talk to Chat much outside of her Ladybug persona and she wondered why he was taking an interest in her tonight. As she wondered to herself what was going on, the silence dragged on. Finally, Chat piped up. "I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable by being here? I just needed a place to go... My own house doesn't feel so safe at the moment. My father is in another one of his moods and I really didn't want to deal with that right now. If you don't want me here I can go." He said, his usual amused sparkle in his eye gone and replace by sadness.
Marinette knew she couldn't just leave him out in the cold, and she thought of it as an opportunity to get to know her partner outside the mask. She quickly shook her head and smiled at him. "You're welcome here anytime, Chat, don't worry about it!" He grinned back at her, and the silence returned.
Chat wasn't lying about why he was here, although he didn't tell the whole truth. His father was actually in one of his moods and he hated being home for those, but he also wanted to see Marinette. He thought of her as a best friend, along with Alya and Nino, but he didn't seem to know her very well outside of all the praise Alya always sings to him about her. Marinette was always so shy around him, and he couldn't figure out why. Anytime he tried to talk to her, she didn't say much back. He really wanted to get to know her, and it seemed like she didn't have a problem talking to Chat Noir, so he knew he couldn't do it as himself. He smiled at her and then decided to take a look around her room.
The first thing he noted was her sewing desk. He remembered that she really liked designing fashion, Alya always talked about how talented she was. He studied everything on the desk. He saw a white sewing machine with pink details, he saw many different colors and types of thread, a pack of differently sized sewing needles, he saw many different ribbons, and he saw a half-sewn midnight blue dress with a length of black ribbon sitting on top of it, not yet sewn. He decided to use this to start a conversation with Marinette.
"That dress looks very beautiful!" Chat marveled to Marinette. She smiled at him and stood up to get it. She was very careful with how she picked it up, as there were threads hanging from it in all different places.
"Thanks," she said, smiling. "I don't know when I would ever wear it, but I just really wanted to make a formal dress. I'm going to sew this black ribbon here," She gestured to the waist of the dress, "And I am planning to line it with white fluff and I'm also going to -" She continued to describe every detail of the dress to him, complete or not. Chat smiled and noted how excited she was when she talked about her designs. She continued to take out a few fully dressed mannequins from her closet and talked about everything on them. He loved seeing her so happy, she never acted this way around him as Adrien. He smiled and listened eagerly and closely for what must have been about 20 minutes before she blushed suddenly, halfway through describing a black half-cut jacket.
"I'm so sorry! I've just been rambling on and I must be boring you to death!" she apologized, frowning. He just laughed and put his hand on her shoulder.
"I don't mind. I actually have been enjoying hearing you talk about your designs." He gently reassured her. She looked up from her feet and smiled softly at him.
"Thanks, Chat Noir," she said. "But enough about me and my designs" she let out a heart-warming giggle that he had never heard before from her, "How have you been? It must be so fun being a superhero!" She prompted. Chat smiled warmly, seeing that she genuinely wanted to talk about him.
"Yeah, I guess it is pretty cool. I get to soar above the rooftops on my staff and I get to meet so many new people as Chat Noir. Getting to work with Ladybug is definitely a plus as well" He laughed. A teasing glint appeared in his eye as he added "I certainly don't mind all the girls flocking after me." Marinette laughed as she listened to him pretend to be so cool around her. He certainly is the same Chat I work with, she thought to herself.
"What about your normal life. You know, behind the mask?" She asked warmly and welcomingly. "It's okay if you can't tell me" She added, seeing his startled look.
He thought about it for a moment, then he shook his head. "No, it's fine. Life has been... okay. At home, it's just me and my father, so it can get pretty lonely. I do, though, have a lot of friends at school" Marinette noted his wide grin that spread quickly across his face when he talked about his friends. "I do have this one friend, though, that I wonder if she even likes me or not," He paused for a minute, avoiding eye contact with Marinette. "She never talks to me, and whenever she does, it's not for very long. She always finds some kind of excuse to leave and she always runs away from me. I wish I knew why."
She nodded thoughtfully as she tried to figure out his situation. Little did she know, he was talking about her. "Tell me more about this friend." She requested.
He looked up at her and smiled. "Well, she seems very kind-hearted, oh and she's very talented. She's very artistic and absolutely amazing at what she does. She's also very smart! I don't think I've ever seen her get a bad grade." He said warmly. She nodded as she thought about it, then a realization struck.
"Chat, I think this girl likes you!" She laughed.
"Wha-What?" He stammered. That was the last thing he would have expected.
Marinette laughed even harder at this and said between breaths, "Wow! You're oblivious, aren't you!" Chat just stared at her with wide eyes and jaw dropped. Marinette calmed herself down enough to talk and she explained, "You said she's very shy around you but she's in your friend group. She runs away after talking to you. If you say that she even stutters around you-" He nodded, wondering how she knew. She laughed even harder "Wow, she's smitten!"
Chat didn't know what to do. He just sat there and blinked. C-Could Marinette actually like me? He thought to himself. When he thought about it, the signs were always right there in front of him. Anytime he put his hand on her shoulder, she practically melted. She was always blushing, it seemed. I always thought her cheeks were just naturally rosy... I can't believe I didn't see it before.
Marinette could see the wheels turning in his head and his eyes get wider and wider the longer he thought about it. She grasped her sides as she tried to stop laughing. She took a few deep breathes and managed to calm herself down, although she was still harboring an amused smile on her face. She gently put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" She asked.
He nodded and shook his head to clear it. Marinette noted the newly formed blush on his face. "Yeah," He replied, still a little lost in thought. "Yeah... I'm fine. I... I just have never thought about that possibility." Marinette let out a small bit of laughter as she cheekily reached over to close his jaw for him. He laughed a little bit too and tried to get the blush off his face. He looked over at Marinette and the blush returned a small bit.
"So, how did you know all of this, Marinette?" He asked.
"Because," She blushed and smiled, "That's how I am around my crush. I can't even say a full sentence to him. I practically melt anytime I even see him. He'll never see me that way though. I think Adrien will only ever see me as a friend, which I don't mind at all, I just wish I could even say a sentence to him without messing it up." She sighed, but she was still smiling thinking about him. Chat, however, was blushing even harder.
"Your crush is Adrien? Do you mean the model, Adrien Agreste?" He asked to confirm it even more, although he couldn't think of any other Adrien she could be talking about.
"Yep." She replied simply.
Chat looked down into his lap while he tried to push away the immense warmth of the blush off his face. He tried to figure out what to say. She just confessed that she liked him! Wait, no. She confessed to liking Adrien. But he wasn't Adrien right then. He was Chat Noir, the confident superhero. He could use this opportunity to get to know her even more, to learn about her feelings as well.
"Why do you like Adrien so much? Is it because he's a famous model?" He mused. She immediately shook her head, she looked kind of offended.
"No, I couldn't care less that he's famous or a model. I love him for his personality. He's so sweet and he could never hurt anyone, not even a fly. He's even nice to Chloe, this mean girl in my class who has always bullied me." She smiled at the thought of him.
Usually, when girls liked him, it was for his looks or his money. Nobody has ever liked him for him before. Normally, it was kind of an annoyance when a girl told him they liked him, but he realized that he didn't completely mind when Marinette said it. He wondered why, and why he was blushing so much. He looked back over at Marinette, who seemed to be staring off into space thinking about her crush. He realized for the first time how beautiful she really was. Her dark blue hair, in its normal pigtails, fit her so well. She was very sweet, and smart, and talented, and creative, and confident around him as Chat, and he liked her confidence. He felt a smile creep onto his face as he thought about her. He shook his head and realized that he was looking at him in a wondering way. That's when he realized he had been staring at her. He laughed nervously, but their eyes locked. He couldn't help but think about her, now. He can't get her out of his head. He felt butterflies form in his stomach as his eyes remain locked with hers. His eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips, for only a second, but he immediately went back to her eyes. What am I doing? I love Ladybug... right? Why am I feeling like this around Marinette right now? She's a friend. Just a friend. But what if... What if she's not anymore? His mind was racing and his heart wasn't much different.
Little did he know, the same thoughts were going through Marinette's mind as well. Marinette, stop! It's Chat Noir! Why are you thinking about him like this! Stop it! She scolded herself, but her heart didn't stop racing as she looked deep into his green eyes. She had never seen how sweet he was, and he was actually quite charming, and she could tell that he cared about his friends, and she knew that he was a kind person. But, I love Adrien. Why do I feel this way about Chat? Why can't I bring myself to look away from him? Why do I feel like he's not just my partner anymore? She felt her face get warm as the familiar feeling of blushing crept onto her face. But this situation was very far from familiar. She had only ever blushed around one person before, but now Chat Noir had captured her heart and she didn't think she could get it back. She felt her eyes flit from his leaf green eyes to his lips, if only for a second. She felt his hand reach over and grab her, his eyes never breaking away. She felt as if she was drowning in his green eyes and she couldn't swim back up.
He felt her hand gently form around his. He didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't controlling himself anymore. He just was going along for the ride. He felt him begin to lean in towards her, and he saw her doing the same. Everything seemed to go slow motion. He felt his eyes flicker, about to close. Hers were doing the same.
Marinette didn't know what she was doing. She didn't know what she was thinking. She couldn't control what she did. She felt herself leaning in and she felt her eyes flickering. She felt like the world had stopped. She didn't remember that she was in her room. She didn't remember that she was sitting on her bed. She didn't remember that it was almost midnight. All she knew was this moment. The world was turning slower for them. Time had stopped. There was just Marinette and Chat Noir, slowly leaning towards each other. She felt his warm breath against her face. They stayed like that for a second, an inch apart, his breath on her skin, and her breathe on his. Marinette opened her eyes slowly and saw Chat's staring back at hers. She glanced at his lips, and they began to lean in again.
Bing!
Chat Noir heard his staff ring. Both Chat Noir and Marinette gasped and they felt themselves come back to reality. They were in Marinette's room, sitting on her bed, and it was midnight. Marinette's hand left him and he leaned back. Marinette quickly stood up and shook her head, her gaze avoiding Chat Noir. He quickly pulled out his staff and checked the notification. It was his alarm for midnight, to ensure that he would be back in time for Nathalie to check on him to make sure he was asleep, as she did every night at 12:30.
"I uh.." He started.
"Yeah, you should..." Marinette replied.
She looked back up at him and their eyes met one last time before he quickly leaped out the window and soared back over Paris. She watched until his figure disappeared into the night. She stayed there for a moment, staring into the darkness of Paris, half-hoping to see his shadow return. After about 10 minutes, she laid down back on her bed and sighed. She didn't know how she felt about what just happened. Did she just almost kiss Chat Noir? And why did she still have butterflies? It was just a heat of the moment thing... but if it was, why couldn't she get him out of her head? She closed her eyes and thought about her partner and the new friend. She couldn't understand why she was feeling this way about him.
Meanwhile, Adrien had gotten home and detransformed. He fell onto his bed and thought about everything that had just happened. He had never felt this way about Marinette before, but now that he was, he couldn't stop his heart from racing whenever he thought about her.