Work Text:
Kitty cuddles
Post reveal
Spoilers for the show!
It was another day in Paris. Ladybug and Chat Noir had just saved the city from a child who had gotten plant powers. And their miraculous, were once again, counting down.
”Well, my lady. It seems that I’ll have to make like a tree and leave.”
”Wow. That is very original.” Ladybug said while booping Chat’s nose.
Chat smirked ”I just read it yesterday, it is now my new mantra.”
”Well then fall away, my little kitty cat.”
Chats smile disappeared immediately ”Not funny bugaboo.”
Ladybug just gave him one of her smiles that made him weak in the knees ”See you later for our date, cat.”
”I can hardly wait until i can see my bug again.” he said with a wink.
His bell chimed as he jumped away, Ladybug just smiled and shook her head. She took out her yoyo and started swinging until she was passing by a clock tower and and saw the time, realising, she still had school. Cursing at her absent-mindedness, she crashed into the wall of a building.
”Ow… Oh no, what am I going to do?! I have a test today and I haven’t studied. What if I fail the test and then get expelled, I will never be able to get a higher education and my dreams of being a fashion designer will be ruined!!” Luckily (pun not intended) Alya called at just that moment. Ladybug quickly changed back into Marinette and picked up the phone.
”Hello?”
”Girl, where are you? The teacher is going crazy.”
”I’m on my way there, has the test started yet?”
”Not yet but it will have if you don’t hurry up.”
Marinette sighed. Just as she was about to hang up Alya said
”By the way, did you see Ladybug on the news? She was amazing! I can’t believe they wouldn’t let me go, i tried to tell them how important my Ladyblog is but the principal just wouldn’t listen!”
Marinette let out a chuckle.
”Mari, is my pain funny to you?”
”No, I just find it so outrageous, that I can’t help but laugh.”
”Good answer.” Alya laughed ”But seriously, you should really get here soon.”
”I’m almost there, see you in a bit.” Marinette hung up. Her best friend always managed to make her feel better, Alya had probably saved her more times than she and Chat had saved Paris.
When she got to the school she remembered that Adrien wasn’t there. He had a photoshoot that morning and they would probably be mad enough that he had suddenly disappeared. So him coming to school wasn’t an option. Marinette burst into the classroom and of course, miss perfect had to comment on it.
”Well Marinette, aren’t you right on time as always.” Chloe laughed loudly and Sabrina chimed in:
”Oh Chloe, you are always so funny.”
”I know.”
Marinette was too tired too deal with this so she decided to ignore it.
”Marinette, can’t you hear me talking to you?”
Marinette just sat down beside Alya and started asking about the test.
”Are you sure it’s today-”
Sabrina interrupted her by saying ”Chloe said something to you”
”And as you can see, I ignored it. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Chloe stood up ”You are not excused. You should have the decency to listen when someone talks to you”
Here Alya said ”Chloe just leave her alone.”
”I will not, I deserve respect.”
Now Marinette stood up and said ”No, you deserve to shut up.”
”How dare you?!”
”Marinette!” Just then the teacher walked into the room.
There Marinette was, in the principal’s office. She was just another one of Chloe’s “victims”. Chloe had managed to get so many people sent here that Marinette started to lose count. She looked to her right and sure enough, Chloe was smiling.
The principal had been lecturing her for the last ten minutes “You come late to class and then you dare to be disrespectful to someone else.”
”Principal she has scarred me, I’m afraid I may never heal from her horrible words.” Chloe said pulling her normal act.
Marinette, exasperated, couldn’t help but say ”I only told her to shut up.”
The principal looked at her sternly.
”Young lady, I expect you to behave better than that. Now I will be meeting your parents, to talk about your disrespectful behavior to the school and to the people in it.”
When Marinette got home, her parents tried to talk to her but having had her ear talked off already, she wasn’t up to it. She went up to the balcony while thinking that she was grounded for sure, if not expelled. She couldn’t take it anymore. Her knees buckled and she laid down on the ground.
She didn’t want to cry… She had been fighting these tears for so long, The fear that she wouldn’t stop crying was enough to make the first one fall. She had held them back for as long as she could, and finally, one by one her tears fell down. She cried, she had had enough! She was doing her best, and yet people like Chloe treated her awfully and got away with it!
”People barely listen to ladybug, so why should they listen to me.” she whispered.
After a while there was a knock on the door, she assumed it was her mother and braced herself for what was about to come. The door opened a bit.
”Marinette?” It was Adrien. She didn’t know if she should be relieved or horrified. She didn’t want Adrien to see her like this, to hear how she felt. That she was giving up.
Adrien peeked out onto the balcony. Marinette was laying on the floor and looking away from him. He slowly went forward and sat beside her, he put his hand on her shoulder. ”What’s up LB?”
Marinette turned to look at him and he saw her face, he knew at that moment that he could never go back. He layed down beside her and hugged her. She started crying again. It hurt every fibre of his being to see his love like this, he had to be strong for her.She turned towards him and he started running his fingers through her hair.
After her breathing had calmed he looked down and said ”My poor Mari… What has the world done to hurt you?” He knew that this wasn’t the time or the place for puns.
”Marinette, can i do anything to help?” His eyes were begging to help, for a sign that she was feeling better. He wanted to make her happy again.
And Marinette talked. She talked about how it all began, how, although Adrien had been confident he was going to be Chat Noir from the first second. it had taken her best friend nearly dying, for her to take on the mantle of Ladybug. She told him about all her self doubt and about all the pressure she felt from everyone, including him. She told him that it was becoming too much, how Chloe’s words affected and hurt her, even though she knew they weren’t true. How she was constantly afraid of being possessed by an akuma, because she felt that she was going to break sooner or later. She talked about what had happened that day and how it had been the final straw to break the camel’s back.
And while all this happened, he held her, he listened to her, he felt for her. What Chloe was doing to her was getting to a point where he had to help her. But he reminded himself that that didn’t matter in this moment. In that moment the only thing that mattered, was Marinette. To make her happy once again. That she was happy, that him being there for her made her happy. He would give up anything, just to always see that smile on her face.
He kissed her forehead when she had finished. Then she said something he did not expect.
”And the worst part is, you don’t feel this. You always know what you’re doing and I’m being so…weak” she tugged at his shirt. He looked down at her in disbelief.
”Marinette…who was it, that helped Ivan tell Mylène how he felt?” She was quiet
”Who was the one that made Nathaniel happy on his birthday? Who was it that-” ”Ok, i get the picture”
”One more, who was it that decided to hear me out and give me a second chance on the first day of school, who was it that forgave me? If that isn’t strength Marinette, then I don’t know what is. You continue to give people second chances and see the good in them and in life, no matter how much they hurt you. Marinette, you are so much stronger, than you will ever know.” Marinette sniffled. Now it was Adrien’s turn to shock her. ”I get scared too, constantly in fact. I wake up every day fearing that my father will be gone, that I will fail if there is an akuma attack… That I will lose you. I am constantly afraid that I will lose you in one way or another Mari. But every time I see you, I know that everything I do is worth it and I fall more and more for you every second I am with you.” Adrien took her hand and kissed it. ”Mari, I love you and I want you to know that whatever you decide I will be there for you, supporting you all the way.”
Marinette looked up into Adrien’s big green eyes, she felt a bit worried for him. She didn’t want him to be afraid but for now he made her feel safe. He made her feel happy. She knew that with each other, they could face anything. He looked down at her with concern in his eyes.
”How are you feeling now?”
She searched his eyes for a bit and then gave him a quick kiss. She leaned her forehead against his.
”I’m better now.”
She smiled at what she was about to say.
”I just needed my Kitty cuddles”