Hello again chicas! I have officially finished writing Late Nights Chats! Thank you for all the lovely comments again. I hope you like this chapter because it's definitely less angsty than the other one! *sneaky face* hehehehe
Enjoy!
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Marinette spent the weekend in her bed. Her calls were left unanswered, her homework was left unfinished and her mind was left undone. She cried endlessly and when she wasn’t crying, she was sleeping but even then, she was haunted by her feelings. Her dreams were full of blonde-haired green-eyed boys, sometimes Adrien morphing into Chat and vice versa, sometimes, Adrien asking, ‘Why can’t you love me and only me?’ and sometimes Chat smirking at her and whispering, ‘You’ll figure it out, princess.’ She would wake up confused and even more distraught.
Her mum worried for her health because Marinette was losing a lot of fluid but wasn’t eating or drinking anything. Whenever Sabine knocked on the door to put food on her desk, she would find food from earlier lying untouched. On Sunday evening, Sabine dragged Marinette out of bed and forced her to have a shower. “You need to stay positive, honey!” she had said. “This may feel like it’s the end of the world but things will get better.” Marinette didn’t reply.
Monday morning arrived and Marinette begged her mum to let her stay home. Sabine had reluctantly conceded, but only on the condition that she went in on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, at school, Adrien had never felt worse. He had called Marinette on Saturday and texted her but after she didn’t reply, he left her alone. During classes, he looked straight ahead, not absorbing anything the teachers said. At break time, Alya and Nino walked up to him. “So, Adrien,” Alya began. “How did the date go?”
Adrien ran his hand through his hair for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day and sighed heavily, replying, “She said she can’t be with me.”
“Did she say why?” Alya pressed on.
“No. We were about to…” he trailed off, embarrassed. “But she just pulled away and said she was sorry.”
Alya sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, murmuring to herself, “Oh, what am I going to do with that girl?” Adrien picked up his bag and waved goodbye to the couple, wishing the day was over already.
Tuesday crept up on Marinette and she wished she hadn’t promised her mum that she would go in. She threw on a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. When she was choosing her clothes, she came across Adrien’s hoodie and she felt fresh tears well up in her eyes. She ended up being late to school because she spent 10 minutes crying into the hoodie. Thankfully, neither Sabine nor Tom commented on her tardiness and only wished her a good day.
Marinette burst into the classroom, murmuring apologies to the teacher and hurrying to her seat. She refused to meet eyes with anyone and Adrien felt his heart wither up painfully in his chest. The sight of her tear-streaked face and swollen eyes made a fresh wave of self-hatred crash over him. “How can I want to be with her when I hurt her so much?” Alya prodded Marinette in the arm and gestured to Adrien, mouthing ‘what happened?’ As more tears threatened to spill over, Marinette just shook her head and looked back to the teacher. At the end of the lesson, she rushed out, not giving anyone the chance to ask her anything. Adrien sighed again and trudged out of the classroom. Before he could go to the locker room, however, he felt an arm tug him urgently to the side. He was about to protest when he saw it was Chloe. “What’s up, Chloe?” he asked wearily.
“I’m assuming from the look on both your faces that the date with Marinette ended badly,” Chloe assumed with a bored look on her face.
“Uh, yeah.”
Suddenly, her expression turned murderous. “That bitch! I told her not to mess with your heart!” she growled. Adrien was shocked at how protective she was. Chloe grabbed his shoulders and continued, “Don’t worry Adrien. I’m going to give that heartless evil psycho-bitch a piece of my mind.”
“No, please don’t do that Chloe,” Adrien pleaded. “It’ll just make things worse.”
“But she hurt you! No one hurts you after what that asshole put you through. I just,” Chloe pulled him down for a hug and whispered tearfully, “I just don’t like seeing you hurt. You’re meant to be the sun that’s always shining in my life. It kills me to see you like this again.” Adrien wrapped his arms around Chloe’s back and remembered how much he had to be there for her when her mother had left and her father was busy. Most people probably thought Adrien didn’t like Chloe but in reality, they had an unbreakable bond between them.
“I promise, I’ll be fine, Chlo,” he reassured her. “I’m just not sure when.”
The blonde pulled away and smiled sadly at her best friend. “I just wish it could’ve worked out. You were so good for each other.” The pain in Adrien’s chest grew and grew but he schooled his face to convey no emotions. When Chloe left, he made his way to the locker room. When he opened his locker, he was surprised to see his hoodie that he gave to Marinette laying on top of his books. There was a slightly damp patch on the back and a small piece of paper rested on it. Adrien opened it and saw, in Madinette’s handwriting ‘sorry’. He felt his heart thump painfully in his chest and slammed the locker shut, willing the heartbreak away.
“It will get better, it will get better.”
At the end of the day, Marinette was out of class before the teacher had even dismissed them. Alya gave Adrien a sympathetic hug and Nino patted him on the back. At least they weren’t isolating him like the best friend would do in all those teen flicks.
The rest of the week passed and things got progressively worse. The word spread that Marinette had broken up with Adrien for no reason and girls from younger years would whisper ‘heartbreaker’ and ‘gold digger’ whenever she walked past. Alya and Nino would always scare the girls away but Adrien felt like he couldn’t do anything. They hadn’t talked or texted since the date so Adrien didn’t know where he stood. Was he her friend? Was he her ex? Even Alya refused to tell him anything, saying she had no idea. Adrien didn’t believe her for one second.
At the end of the last lesson on Thursday, Ms Bustier announced, “Ok, class, Marinette has an announcement to make about the cookie exchange you all are doing tomorrow.” Marinette slowly made her way to the front of the classroom, dreading having to speak in front of him. She had spent most of her nights crying into her giant cat and she just wished it could all be over.
"OK guys," she began shakily. Her eyes flickered over the class and landed briefly on Adrien. She looked away immediately, not trusting herself to keep her emotions in if she looked any longer. "Umm, just make sure you have your cookies ready by tomorrow morning so that you can switch with your… partner." She trailed off as her eyes found their way to Adrien's again and they stared deeply into each other's eyes. It felt like years mwere passing when in reality, it was only a few seconds. A few traitorous tears threatened to spill over her eyes. Adrien looked hopeful and opened his mouth to say something, which broke the bubble. "Just remember your cookies!" she burst out and tore her eyes away.
Adrien's face fell and he dropped his head into the desk. Nino patted him sympathetically and whispered into his ear, "I'm sorry, dude. She'll come around. Look, tomorrow, I’ll sit next to Alya so you have a chance to talk to her.” Adrien didn't reply to what Nino said because there was only one thought running through his mind.
"I'm going to see her tonight."
Marinette had rushed home after her awkward announcement and tried to get her homework done. Truth be told, she was doing more crying than homework but her mum didn't need to know that. Sabine had already fussed over Marinette enough. It also didn’t help that she was on her period so her emotions were already haywire. At around 18:00, she had given up on trying to do her physics and retreated to her chaise to watch sad movies while curled up with her giant cat. Tikki flew to her and said worriedly, "Marinette, you really need to get out. You can't stay in your bedroom forever!"
Marinette just humphed, rolled over and grumbled, "I can try." At 21:00, an almost silent thud suddenly sounded on her roof. Marinette shot up and thought, "Please don't let it be who I think it is!" Nonetheless, her pleas amounted to nothing. She climbed up to her bed and saw a pair of bright green eyes shining through the hatch. Carefully wiping away her tears, she opened the hatch and placed a shaky smile on her face. "Chat! It's nice to see you!" She moved out of the way so that he could hop down onto her bed.
"Hi, princess." Chat also tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace. "A little birdie told me you haven't been feeling so good. Before I ate it, of course." Marinette smiled a little at his joke. Even when she felt like drowning in her tears, he could still bring a smile to her face.
"Since when do you talk to your food?" she joked, trying to lighten the mood.
Chat's half smile left his face and he growled, "I'm serious, Marinette. What's wrong?"
Marinette sighed and murmured, "Let's go downstairs, then I'll tell you." She pulled him down the stairs and onto the chaise and sat on her knees. "So, you may not know this but I went on a date with A-Adrien on Saturday," she began. "And it was a lot of fun. I really like him. Like, a lot. But at the end…" Her voice turned teary and one tear rolled down her face at the memory. "He was about to k-kiss me a-and I told him I c-couldn't be with him!" She was close to bursting into tears at this point.
"Why?" Chat asked desperately. "I mean, if you like him then why can't you be with him?"
"Step 2. If Chat Noir pops in on Fridays like you said he does, ask him out. Make sure he knows you're still in love with Adrien but that you're also investigating your feelings for him."
Again, Marinette could hear Alya's advice ringing in her ears but, like the first time, she just couldn't bring herself to say anything.
"I… I don't know!" She burst into tears and began sobbing into her hands. Chat's eyes widened and he immediately pulled Marinette into his arms, rubbing soothing circles into her back.
"I pushed her too far," he thought regretfully. "I allowed my own insecurities and desire to get answers hurt my princess. What kind of boyfriend would I be?"
They stayed like that for a while, Marinette sobbing into Chat's chest. A few times, she stopped to breathe and calmed down a little but the tears would come back again at how kind Chat could be and how much she had royally fucked up. Sabine poked her head through the trapdoor once and her eyes had widened at the sight of a superhero comforting her weeping daughter. Chat had nodded once, trying to convey that he had it under control. Sabine had nodded warily back and closed the door.
At around 21:30, Marinette's breathing became even and she slumped against Chat's muscular chest. Realising that she was asleep, Chat carefully lifted her into his lap and turned her body so he could carry her comfortably. He picked her up bridal-style and carefully took her up the stairs to her bed. Laying her down and pulling the cover over her body, Chat leant down to press a kiss to her forehead. He stood back up and smiled fondly at her sleeping face. "My princess." Suddenly, he caught sight of a flickering light at the side of his eye. He turned his head to see where the flickering was coming from and was shocked to see the rose he had given Ladybug.
"Impossible…"
He picked it up to examine it more closely and found the exact same words as his gift.
'LB CN' with hearts on either side.
'Together Forever' on the bottom of the box.
'Unstoppable' underneath it.
They were identical. Chat placed the rose down carefully and silently found a pen, writing a note for Marinette so she wouldn't wonder where he went. He then exited the room, rushing back to his house so he could analyse his findings.
The second he landed in his rooms, he whispered, "Claws in." Plagg flew out of the ring and into the fridge, looking desperately for his cheese. Adrien began pacing stressfully in front of his couch. "Maybe… Marinette is keeping it for Ladybug while she is on holiday? No, because she told me we would meet tomorrow," he desperately rambled. “Maybe Marinette is taking inspiration from the rose for jewellery or something?"
Plagg flew in front of him and gave him an unimpressed look. "Really? What is the most basic answer?"
Adrien stopped pacing and looked at the tiny back kwami, his eyes wide and his heart doing somersaults in his chest.
"Marinette is Ladybug."
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AHHHHHH
FINALLYYY