Chapter Text
I cannot hold my tongue, you give me much to say
I’m sweating bullets, nervous that you’ll push away
And when your eyes catch mine, I know I talk too much
So give me your two lips, and, baby, I’ll shut up
He looked at her, his huge grin making her feel all warm and fuzzy, the willing to touch him and hug him, or maybe cup his face and kiss him and when they break the kiss, whisper the sweet words that was choking her-
She gave him a nervous smile and winked, making him laugh.He grabbed his baton, winked and left.
Ladybug watched him leave and hugged herself, feeling her eyes burn with the tears because one again, she didn’t tell him her true feelings.
Because, in the end, it didn’t matter if she loved him - or if he knew about it. As long as Papillon was attacking Paris, as long as they couldn’t know how was under the mask, or their love could be used to weaken the other, it was better if he didn’t know.
Maybe he didn’t feel the same anymore. Maybe she took so long to realize he was her half that he had finally moved on. Yeah, maybe it was better if he didn’t know.
She has a duty as Ladybug, she has a duty with Paris. Her love for Chat had to wait.
Forever, maybe.
(snippet of remember that night? - Chapter 1)
The writer stared at the “post” button with hesitation. After a whole week writing every time it was possible to, the first chapter was done. The account in the fanfiction website was created, the chapter was edited and done. All the writer needed to do was click the button and post it.
Maybe… maybe it was better not. Maybe the chapter was bad, maybe the person the writer wanted to read wouldn’t read after all. It was a silly idea, right?
Before the writer could lose the courage, though, they pressed the button and watched as their story came alive. A ladynoir fanfiction in the middle of a hundred.
What the writer could do was to wait.
“Morning, Marinette, my beautiful, talented, smart and-”
“No. I haven't read the fic yet.” Marinette smiled at Alya, who crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, annoyed.
“Oh, you bitch . Why are you doing this to me?!”
“Alya, I just didn’t have time yet. I will read.”
“You’re saying this all week! The new chapter will be up until you read it.”
“So I will have two chapters to read!” Marinette smiled and Alya groaned, throwing herself at her chair. The class didn’t start yet and neither Nino or Adrien were in their places.
“You will take forever to read it.”
“Alya, why are you freaking out so much? It’s just one ladynoir fic from the hundred you already read.”
“The thing is that everyone is reading, Mari! you know how Marc is one of the big names from the fandom, they spend their free time that they could be using to write their fanfictions to read it! The fic is blowing!”
“And I will read it, eventually.” Marinette shrugged. “I’m just busy.”
“Yeah, you and your busy life.” Alya crossed her arms and sighed. “I just want my best friend to read a fic so she could understand why I am freaking out for a new chapter. It will take forever!”
“I thought the fic was posted last night?” Marinette raised her eyebrow, amused.
“Are you guys talking about Remember that night ?” Mylene asked, entering the classroom holding Ivan’s hand. “Ivan and I finished the chapter last night and we loved it! Alix sent the link last night and we stayed up reading.”
“Remember that night?!” Rose squeaked from the other side of the room, all excited. “Jules and I found it when Nath reblogged from Marc!”
“See, Marinette? Everyone is reading.” Alya poked her friend’s nose.
“Oh my god, Alya!” Marinette huffed. “I will read it. One day! I just don’t get the hype of it.”
“It’s because you don’t ship ladynoir!” Alya groaned and Marinette rolled her eyes.
“Wait, what?” Adrien asked as he sat. Concentrated on her little “fight” with Alya, Marinette didn’t realize that he entered the room with Nino. “Why not, Marinette?”
“Because she is a coward .” Alya laughed and Marinette rolled her eyes again. “Why are you booing me? I’m right.”
“I just don’t think it’s wise to ship them together. I mean, they can’t be together, so if we ship them they will get pressured to date? Or they will think about it when it’s clear they can’t be together.” Marinette shrugged. “It’s just… what is the point to want them to be together if in the end they can’t?”
“That’s exactly why you have to read the fic! That was it about. How much they love each other and can’t be together because of all their responsibilities as heroes and saving Paris and how Papillon can use their love as a weapon. And the way the writer wrote their feelings? It’s like they are Ladybug or Chat Noir themselves! See, Mari, see? Another reason for you so you can read this fic already!” Alya grabbed her arm and shook it.
“What fic are you talking about?” Adrien asked, confused.
“It’s a fic Alya and everyone found it last night.” Nino explained and Adrien widened his eyes, looking curious now.
“Can I have a link? I didn’t see this fic last night when I was reading fics.”
Marinette blinked her eyes and Alya approached her, smirking.
“Sunshine boy likes ladynoir fics.”
“And this will not make me read the fic faster.” Marientte blushed as she watched Adrien opening the link Nino sent to him.
The thing is that Alya still thought Marinette was in love with Adrien. Deep down, she still loved him, because he was her first love and of course he would have a spot in her heart, but day by day she realized that she needed to move on. Adrien was in love with another girl, and he told her that when she confessed her feelings to him.
The moment she saw panic in his eyes and how his eyes saddened, she knew he didn’t feel the same. And even if he was breaking her heart, he was the kindest and tried to let her down gently.
And, well… another blond boy was starting to steal her heart. A boy that she also knew she shouldn’t love because in the end, until they could get the butterfly and the peacock miraculouses, they couldn’t be together.
Marinette sighed and hit the table with her forehead. She was too young to have love problems so complicated like the ones she had.
“Damn, girl. What happened?”
“I think I need to sleep.”
Alya patted her back, laughing.
She was late.
Again.
Ladybug never thanked her yo-yo so much like in that moment as she used it to swing from rooftop to rooftop, trying to get in the place she and Chat Noir agreed to meet for the patrol. She was so busy feeding the kwamis that she forgot she had a parol scheduled with Chat tonight, until Alya sent her a text message asking if she had read the fic yet.
So she ignored her phone and ran to Chat.
When she arrived, he was sitting on the edge of the rooftop, his head low as he stared at his baton. Maybe he was sending her a text message to know if she would get late - again - for one of their patrols.
She landed and smirked, calling his name in a soft tone to not scare him. He didn’t react, though, still staring at his baton with such interest that made her frown. What was he doing?
Ladybug approached slowly and looked over his shoulder to his screen. The website opened was one with the fic that Alya was using to make her life a hell. It didn’t matter how much Ladybug tried to run away from Remember that night , that fic wouldn’t let her alone until she read it.
She rolled her eyes, put her mouth against Chat’s human right ear and whispered “boo!”
He yelped and jumped, his baton slipping from his hands to the floor as he stayed by all fours, hissing like a cat. Ladybug started to laugh, tears filling her eyes as she tried to contain the laugh that was starting to make her belly ache.
“Oh, chaton . I am so sorry, I didn’t know you would react like that.”
“My lady!” He said and raised up, grabbing his baton. “That was so uncalled for.”
“I am so sorry! I wasn’t expecting you to jump like that. Also, what were you doing? You looked very focused.” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, a amused smirk on her lips. When he blushed, she blinked. “ Chaton ?”
“I was reading something. That’s all. So, patrol?”
“Chat, you know I don’t mind what you do, but you can’t be distracted like that. What if I was an akuma? Or worse, Papillon? We have to be careful, he is more powerful now with the peacock miraculous.”
“Yeah, I know.” He scratched the back of his head. “I got distracted reading this fic and- shit .”
She didn’t say anything as he blushed.
“Wouldn’t it be Remember that night , would it?”
“Do you… do you know this fic?”
She rolled her eyes and walked to him.
“I do. I think everyone knows this fic, lately. My friends didn’t shut up about it.”
“Same, my lady. My friends were talking about it so much that I got curious and decided to check. It’s… hm, it’s a-”
“A ladynoir fanfic. I know.” She swallowed hard.
“I know you don’t like that people write about us, and that it makes you feel a bit umcomfortable. And I’m sorry if I was reading, I was just curious to know why everyone is so obsessed over it.”
“And did yu find out why?”
“I… did. I mean, there is only one chapter up and it’s almost 10k words, but you read without realizing how long it is because it is so good, my lady. I was waiting for you to show up for patrol, so I decided to check it and I lost the track of time, because, seriously… It’s amazing. I couldn’t stop reading. The details and the feelings and the pining , I-”
“Ok, ok. I think I don’t need another person talking so obsessively about this fic.” She raised her hands and he stopped talking. “What if we go to our patrol so we can finish it faster so you can go to your home and read your fic?”
“Sure.” His smile was not honest and her heart sank. She took a deep breath and put her hands on his shoulder, cursing the height difference for a second because she was so small next to him.
“Sorry, Chat. I just had a long day and I’m tired. I didn’t mean to be mad or upset.”
“That’s ok, my lady.” He grabbed one of her ponytails and played with it, making her smirk. “You are right. Duties first. We patrol the city then we can hang out a bit? I can read the fic for you.”
She smiled sweetly.
“I would love it.”
Chat read for her the first scene - 3k of the 10k word the first chapter had - when she started to sleep, her head against his shoulder.
They shared a hug and said good night to each other and she ran to her room. She called out her transformation, gave Tikki some cookies and went to her bed, thanking herself for taking a shower and putting some pajamas before feeding the kwamis early.
She snuggled against her cat pillow, grabbing her phone to check the hour. It wasn’t late, but it was far from the ideal. She groaned, opened Alya’s message and replied that she read the first scene of the fic and tossed her phone to the side.
It vibrated and she grabbed it again, seeing the ftons of messages that were coming from their group chat with everyone in the class. They were talking about the fic and she saw Adrien’s message as he live read the fic.
She chuckled with his overreacting about some pining scene and Alya tagged her and added a lot of clown emotions. Marinette rolled her eyes, opened the fic and screenshotted to send to the group chat. Everyone started to freak out, Alya even sent a Fucking FINALLY! but it was Adrien’s message that made her smile.
[sunshine agreste]: run while you can - once you start reading, you can’t stop.
[dupain-too tired to be alive-cheng]: worry not, I will stop in the middle of it.
Well, guess she didn’t have a choice now. Her friends were reading, Adrien was reading, even Chat was reading, So, instead of sleeping like she should, Marinette grabbed her earphones to put some song to play and then opened the fic to read, promising herself she would stop in the middle of the fic so she could sleep.
And that’s why Marinette showed the next day in class carrying a huge cup of black coffee and dark circles under her circles because she couldn’t stop reading.
On Sunday night, fingers moved around the keyboard fast as the writer finished the edits for the new chapter.
This time, they clicked a post without hesitation. The fic was a success - they were sure that it reached the person they wanted to read it.