Chapter Text
“Miraculous Ladybug!” Marinette could not drift her gaze from the man sitting on the floor with his head hanging on his hands in shame. It was a mess. Reporters were already shoving their way through the police barrier, shouting all kind of questions she could not discern, the magical ladybugs had restored the previously destroyed manor, and police officers were already rushing inside.
Everything was happening at slow motion and at the same time, her thoughts were racing at the speed of light. She was trapped inside a bubble of shock while she watched Officer Raincomprix and another agent she had never seen before approaching the man pitifully sitting on the floor right in front of her, and Marinette involuntarily took a step back, the remnants of adrenaline and the swirl of emotions from the battle still lingering inside her.
Adrien….
Her heart missed a beat at the thought of the boy she loved so dearly. He did not deserve any of this. So many questions resurfaced as she focused on him. Where was he? Was he at his room? Was he seeing what was happening from somewhere else in Paris? Had something happened to him when the mansion was completely wrecked by Chat’s cataclysm?
Chat… Her mind focused on an entirely new subject. Marinette kept looking at Gabriel being escorted handcuffed by the police, narrow cold eyes staring back at her. Her mind, however, could only think of her partner for a reason she could not explain. She finally broke her gaze from Gabriel in search of Chat Noir, and that was when she spotted a black shadow rapidly leaping away from all the commotion around them.
Her instinct ordered her to follow him, and so, without any hesitation, she also leapt away from the scene, ignoring the yelling reporters, ignoring Gabriel’s faithful assistant being carried in a stretcher with an oxygen mask on her face and accompanied by two police officers as well. For whatever reason, all she could think about was her partner and Adrien, but the voice in her head, strangely sounding like Tikki’s, told her to follow Chat Noir, and so she did.
She raced through the rooftops, always behind him in what seemed like an endless chase, until he suddenly stopped on a familiar balcony. A remarkably familiar balcony whose owner she knew was not in her room. Said owner was currently chasing after her partner, leaping from rooftop to rooftop until she could get him. She ignored how much all her muscles were throbbing, still recovering from the exhausting battle they had endured.
Marinette stopped right behind Chat Noir watching as he gripped the iron balcony fence with all his forces, he was shivering uncontrollably despite the warm summer night. A weight dropped in her gut and she felt nauseous.
“Chat?” She approached him slowly as if she were trying to get closer to a scared and wounded animal.
He did not react.
“Chat? Please…” Her gloved hand stretched trying to reach to him. He flinched before she could even touch him.
“Kitty, what’s wrong?” Her voice was quivering. She had thought that defeating Hawkmoth would be a moment of elation, of victory, but all she could feel was defeat. Why did he have to be Gabriel? Paris won that night, but she knew that somewhere in the city, a boy had just lost everything.
She heard Chat releasing a shivering sigh. He had his back turned to her, but Marinette knew that tears were strolling down his face, just like she could feel the moisture in her skin.
“Chat… talk to me… please…” She whispered knowing that she could not control her voice if she talked any louder. Marinette took a step forward.
Chat’s shoulders were shaking, his head was hanging low, staring at the ground below. “We won…” She heard him say. It was supposed to be a celebration, but his toned revealed the complete opposite, it came out as nothing louder than a broken breath. Well, Marinette would have to work with it.
“We did, Kitty…” She smiled softly, her eyes never leaving the back of his head.
She saw him covering his eyes with his hands, his entire weight fully supported by the iron fence of her balcony. “We won…” He repeated, letting out a sad chuckle.
Her heart constricted at the shattered state her partner seemed to be. It didn’t make sense. They had met Gabriel before, but she could never imagine that this would affect Chat Noir so much! Gabriel was a secluded man, the only family she knew he had was Adrien, and, well, he was also close to his assistant Nathalie, he was closer to her than anyone else could ever be. Could Chat be a relative too? Did he know the Agrestes personally? He had said that he was a model, perhaps he has worked with Adrien before. Her thoughts were interrupted by Chat’s quiet sniffs.
Marinette took another step closer to her partner.
“Ladybug…” Her breathing stopped. “You should go… People down there need answers for what happened tonight…” Chat was speaking slowly, his voice unsteady, mirroring his stance.
“Chat…” Was he seriously trying to pretend that everything was fine? “I won’t leave your side… Not like this… Kitty, I care about you!” Her heart doubled its pace.
She saw as he increased his grip on the fence. Marinette heard the dark chuckle Chat emitted. “You care for me, but you don’t love me…” his voice broke in the end as if he were coming to that conclusion as he spoke.
“Kitty…” How was it possible that her chest felt so cold, yet her face was getting warmer and warmer? She was doing everything in her power to be strong for her partner, to contain the tears that were gathering on her eyes.
“It’s okay, Ladybug…” She flinched at his numb statement, the absence of any of the nicknames he had so sweetly given her, to which she always pretended to be offended whenever he used them, heavy in her chest. “I should be used to it… That’s just my life…” Marinette heard him gasp, “I’m unlovable.” He stated as it was a well-known fact, and the coldness she was feeling grew ten-fold.
"I'm unlovable... Isn't it ridiculous?" He suddenly turned to her with a fractured smile adorning his face, with tears streaming down his cheeks, "No matter what I did, I was never enough for him..." He sighed, "I did everything he asked of me, never fought back. The fencing, the Chinese classes, the piano, the ph- photoshoots, it was all for him..."
Her heart shattered as her brain suddenly halted all function. Only one thought was present in her mind.
ADRIEN.
She was staring at him in shock, suddenly the two boys who threatened to rip her heart in half became one, and he was so broken. Marinette had always thought that Hawkmoth's defeat would be her greatest victory, but it turned out to be his greatest loss.
Chat Noir, Adrien didn't even notice how stunned she was, petrified as her mind zeroed on his face. He wasn't looking at her, instead, his emerald eyes were glued to a spot on the balcony floor, "I did all that for him, and it was never enough", he looked back at her with a broken smile, "It would never be enough. I would never be enough because I'm not her..." he paused, “And she will never come back…”
Her fingers hurt like they were being stabbed by thousands of little pins and needles, she wanted to throw up. Adrien had been the partner who had stood by her side since the beginning, he had died for her. Chat was her kind, gentle and lonely classmate who had spent most of his life trapped in his room. His father, that man used him as a puppet, twisting him and twisting him until he finally broke, drilling into his head that he had to earn love, that he was unlovable because he had not worked hard enough to earn it. Her heart broke for him.
Her hands gripped his shoulders before she even noticed it, "Adrien, look at me." she felt him flinch, and Marinette gathered all her energy to keep herself steady, she couldn't cry now, she needed to be strong for him, "You are enough. You. Are. Enough", she punctuated every word making sure they got into his thick skull. "You are enough for Nino, for Alya, for Chloé, for Kagami, for everyone who ever had the luck of meeting you. You are enough for me! Adrien, we all love you. We love your kindness, your sunshine personality, your infinite patience, and I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I even love your poorly timed puns! So, you, Adrien Agreste, are enough for me!" She did not say the words she wanted to say ever since she had fallen in love with him. He was already overwhelmed by everything that had crashed into his life in the last hours. Marinette decided to wait.
"Marinette..." He closed his eyes, resting his forehead on the top of her hair, she felt his mouth move and a sob racked through his body, "You are m’lady…", her heart stopped, and she felt like her spirit had left her body as she heard those words. She knew who he was. He knew who she was. The secrets between them had finally ceased to exist.
“Marinette…” Adrien repeated her name, and she felt the water pooling from his eyes, as sobs and gasps replaced any coherent speech he had intended to make.
Adrien lost his forces and dragged them both to the balcony's wooden floor, he hugged her deeply. She was his lifeline, connecting him to this cold new reality. She hugged him back, his head resting on the crook of her neck while she softly petted the back of his soft hair, while earth-shattering sobs shook his entire form. Marinette finally let go of the tears gathered in her own eyes. Tomorrow she could tell the world what had happened that night. Tomorrow she could deal with the stolen miraculous that were finally back to where they belonged. Tomorrow she could tell him that she had always and would always love him. Now though, all that mattered was to survive the night, all that mattered was him and only him.