Chapter Text
Chat glanced over to Marinette from where he relaxed against a couple of pillows on her chaise lounge. She hadn’t spoken in probably twenty minutes, just focused intently on sketching minute details onto a design she’d been working on.
It was the third night in a row he had come to see her. The first, they’d talked for a couple of hours on the balcony before she insisted he head home. He hadn’t meant to hesitate. He didn’t want to be a burden, but over the past several months he had been hitting his limit of being alone at home every evening.
It wasn’t that his father and Nathalie weren’t around, either. They just never spoke to him or even looked at him if they didn’t absolutely have to.
Finally, two days earlier, he’d decided enough was enough and he took off in search of human connection.
Marinette was wonderful. He’d thought of her as a good friend - one of his best friends - for a little over three amazing years in which he’d felt more loved than he’d ever felt by anyone other than his mother. With his cute, clumsy friend alongside Nino, Alya, and the other great friends he’d made, he felt like a part of something.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get to be part of it nearly as often as he’d like.
So when she’d told him to go home that first night, he’d hesitated. He’d stared at her just a few moments too long, wishing he could just tell her he was Adrien and explain why he so badly needed to just be near another living, breathing human being. In those few moments, far too long to just be brushed off, Marinette had closed the distance between them, wrapped her arms tightly around him, and asked him to please come back whenever he wanted.
If she hadn’t just asked him to leave, and if he were a little more bold, he would have just insisted that that time was right then, and made himself at home. But Marinette was willing to let him come back. She was showing him kindness and affection and he wasn’t about to overstay his welcome and make her change her mind.
He waited until the following night.
When he’d shown up, she had wasted no time. Marinette had always been pretty intuitive as far as he could tell, and when Chat Noir knocked on her window without a giant grin on his face, she’d opened the trapdoor, pulled him into her bed and held him for a long time, both of them kneeling on the mattress. It had been slightly awkward at first, but he’d slowly relaxed into her embrace, burying his face in her shoulder as he tried not to make it more awkward by crying.
He supposed she wouldn’t mind him crying, but all the same, she didn’t even know he was her close friend, and he felt like he was taking advantage of her kindness and generosity.
They’d spent the remainder of the previous evening in close proximity. Talking, laughing, daydreaming. Finally, about twenty minutes after midnight, Marinette had once again suggested that he get home. She’d asked him if he planned on coming back again soon and, his heart aching, he nodded slowly. She’d hugged him and assured him again that he could come any time.
So that night - the third night - as he stared at the most incredibly supportive friend he’d ever had (sorry Nino), he wondered when she’d ask him to leave that night. The first two nights she’d given him her undivided attention, so when he came a-calling once more, she told him he was welcome, but she really needed to focus on finishing a design and perhaps get started on sewing.
He’d only been there for about a half hour, but he wasn’t sure he’d taken his eyes off of her once the whole time. He knew he was being needy, but he really wanted to feel her arms around him again. He wanted to be held and cherished and loved in a way only she had gifted him in so so long.
He got hugs from his other friends… even Ladybug. But the way Marinette held him, it filled him with a comfort and a… longing… that he wanted to experience much, much more of.
“There!” Marinette swiveled her chair quite suddenly to be able to look in his direction, startling him somewhat. “What do you think, Kitty?”
Sitting up and placing his feet on the floor, he was about to stand when Marinette quickly rushed over and plopped herself down next to him. “Here. Take a look.” She handed him the sketchbook and leaned her head against his shoulder.
The contact sent a thrill up Chat’s spine, causing him to shiver slightly. He gazed down at the sketch of a very lovely and incredibly intricate dress. The hand-embroidery alone would probably take weeks of work. He couldn’t give any very detailed answers though, or she might start connecting the dots of his identity. Ladybug would not be pleased.
“Wow. This looks like it’s going to take a long time to make. It’s beautiful.”
When he peeked over at her, he could see a light blush adorning her cheeks. She wasn’t used to being complimented. He’d have to change that.
“Thank you, Chat. I’d like to wear it to a Christmas party I’m going to next month.”
Chat’s eyes went wide as he looked down at the design once more. She planned on finishing it in time for Chloé’s Christmas party in less than a month? The gorgeous cheongsam-inspired dress had a detachable mandarin-collar bolero and notes specified that the embroidery leading from the bust to the hip as the dress flowed out into a full skirt would be hand-stitched. There were plenty of lovely silk fabric options out there that would give Marinette some of what she was going for, but she didn’t know how to not go above and beyond.
Again unable to clue her in to how much he knew, Chat just smiled at her.
“It’s amazing. You’re going to look fantastic.” He frowned down at the sketch, making a show of his thought process before he continued. “I’m surprised you can get it done that fast, though. This looks like it would take me until Easter.”
Marinette giggled, hooking her elbow with his and snuggling closer to him. “It’ll be a lot of work, but I know I can do it. Plus, now I seem to have a companion to keep me company through what will be many late nights of embroidery.”
The relief he felt surprised him. He’d worried she was getting sick of him coming by, but her statement made it seem like she wanted him to keep it up. He kissed the top of her head and swallowed the emotion suddenly clutching at his throat.
“I’ll be happy just to be here with you. Are you sure it’s not a problem, especially on school nights?”
“I’m sure. I’d be up anyway. I prefer to do so with you around.”
She sounded sincere, and he decided to trust her.
His fingers traced the fine detail of what she would be hand-stitching along much of the length of the dress. Her signature flower design, altered slightly and interspersed with additional botanicals and…
“Are these ladybugs?”
Head popping up, Marinette beamed at him. “They are! I wasn’t sure you’d notice.”
“You thought I wouldn’t notice ladybugs?” He stuck his tongue out at her playfully.
“Ah yes, you being in love with your partner in crime-fighting just slipped my mind.” Her tongue was stuck out in return.
They smiled at each other after a moment, both just gazing into the eyes of one of their dearest friends. A moment later, Chat wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. “So. Colors. What are you going for here?”
Marinette pointed down at the sketch and smiled. “The majority will be red. The frog fasteners and the majority of the embroidery will be black, but I’ll have to use some more red in both the flowers and the ladybugs, for contrast.”
Chat blushed slightly as she tucked her head comfortably against his chest while describing the details. He was more physically at ease with Marinette than anyone else, even Ladybug, but he was still surprised by the intimacy of it. With Ladybug his heart would have jumped out of his chest in this position, but with Marinette he was able to put his brain firmly in ‘friends-only’ mode and it helped him stay calm. At least, mostly. She was still a beautiful girl, after all, and now that they were getting older, she was… He swallowed, trying to put a stop to that line of thought. He’d stick with the fact that she was beautiful.
“I’m also considering adding a black layer under the skirt, to draw the eye at the slit.”
His eyes followed her finger as she pointed to the skirt portion, where a slit on one side would reveal her leg all the way up to a bit above the knee. He swallowed again. Marinette had very long legs.
“That would… that would be nice.”
He immediately kicked himself mentally. ‘That would be nice’? What was he thinking?
Luckily, she didn’t seem to be paying much attention to his reaction. She sighed. “I just hope it does the trick.”
“What do you mean?” He evidently wasn’t done making things awkward.
Glancing down at her, he could see that she was blushing furiously. She sat up, removing her pleasant warmth from his side. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she smiled sheepishly. “The red… the ladybugs…” She bit her bottom lip adorably. “It’s all about luck.”
He grinned involuntarily. “So it’s not just because you know I have a type?”
What. Was. Wrong. With. Him.
In his mind, he hung his head in his hands and wept for his inevitably lost friendship.
To his utter delight and completely undeservedly, she just smirked and rolled her eyes. “Silly kitty. No, I just… It’s kind of a ‘last hurrah’ kind of thing, actually. The…” she got visibly nervous all of a sudden, “the boy I love still hasn’t noticed me after all this time and…” She looked up into his eyes, sad and hopeful. “Don’t you ever wonder if you should just move on? From Ladybug, I mean.”
Devastation clutched at Chat’s chest. He knew exactly how she felt. Truthfully, he’d wondered exactly that a lot lately. If he was honest, he thought for a long time that he’d wait forever for her, but lately… His lips pressed into a thin line and he nodded slowly, admitting something to Marinette that he’d barely admitted to himself.
She gave him a sympathetic smile and interlaced her fingers with his. “Then you get it. I… I don’t know how much longer I can go on loving someone who only sees me as a friend. If I can’t get him to see me as something more, or if I can’t even tell him how I feel, there’s no point. So…”
She turned her body toward him and grinned determinedly. “I’m going to wear this amazing dress, I’m gonna look completely irresistible, and I’m finally just going to tell him that he’s never been just a friend to me. If he turns me down, I…” Her face fell somewhat before she clenched her jaw and regained her determination. “I’ll know, and I can move on confidently.”
Chat’s responding smile was wide as he watched this incredible girl work through some complicated emotions. Ones he could entirely relate to. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure who the boy was, but he assumed it was Luka. He couldn’t imagine why she thought the guitarist only thought of her as a friend, but he was sure there was a reason.
“But you’re hoping it works and he tells you he feels the same…?”
Marinette squeezed his hand, looking down at their interlaced fingers. Her cheeks were red again, but she smiled. “Of course I am, Chat. He’s… to me he’s… everything I’ve ever wanted. At least, in terms of a relationship. I have plans and ambitions outside of just getting married and making babies.”
“Oh. I know you do. It’s one of the things I admire most about you.”
Her smile was soft and she leaned her head against his shoulder once again, their hands still firmly clasped together. “But I do want that too. With him.”
Chat laid his cheek against the top of her head and they sat like that for a long time. He wondered if he should do something similar with Ladybug. One last hurrah and then move on. The thought made him want to cry. Unlike Marinette, he’d told Ladybug how he felt. He’d declared his love, he’d flirted, he’d given her gifts…
And she had still acted like it was all a big joke.
The jumble of thoughts and plans in his mind had yet to gain any sort of cohesive form, but one thing stood out, clear as day.
Luka would be an absolute fool to turn Marinette down.