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“So tell me, m’lady, what exactly would happen if we were to lose?”
Chat’s question caught Marinette off guard. She wasn’t used to such deep talks during patrol when they usually used the time to unwind.
“Something too big to imagine. I don’t think anyone has ever seen it happen so it hasn’t been described in any way apart from “create a new reality.” I don’t think there would be words to describe it anyway. It sounds like something too.. You know.” She shrugged.
“We only know there is a price to pay,” he added.
“Oh yes, that is certain.”
“Well, I hope we never get to find out what this indescribable thing is.”
“Me too, kitty, me too.”
Her eyes returned to the star-dotted sky above them. She didn’t want to let the weight of impending doom settle over her. She didn’t want to think about it.
“Do you have a wish? One you are ready to do anything to achieve, without caring for the consequences?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him really mulling over her words, as if looking for a satisfying answer.
“I don’t think so. Some things, no matter how much we want them changed or reversed, are not meant to be tinkered with.” His answer hinted at a deeply buried pain that made her heart ache for him. One more thing that she wasn’t allowed to know.
“Oh lucky me. Here I was thinking that if you had the chance you’d wish for me to love you. Don’t you think it would be a great way for the world to end - because of love?”
She made her tone light, making sure to look too relieved by his lack of desire to use such a dangerous thing to ease his heartache. Her deep sigh and curving lips didn’t go unnoticed by him.
In turn, she could see his lips twitch, fighting for a few seconds, before finally widening in a grin.
“Stop teasing me like that, bugaboo,” he shot back at her when she could no longer hold the laughter in.
The relief was instant and real this time. She loved the fact that they could joke about this. That his feelings were a mutually accepted fact that no longer made any of them uncomfortable. That she could acknowledge them and tease him. Never make fun of him, of course, just make little friendly jokes.
This was better than her trying to run from the ghosts in her head that constantly whispered what she knew already as well. That she didn’t need him to make a grand wish for her to fall in love with him. It was all so real, so within reach, and yet never allowed to happen.
If she didn’t joke about it, she would end up crying. She didn’t want to make him feel that hidden pain. He didn’t deserve to have the same nightmares as her.
“I’d never use outside forces to try to make you love me, m’lady,” he added softly. “You know how wishes are supposed to work. They can’t make someone love you. I doubt that even this indescribable thing can make it happen, if genies can’t.”
They shared a smile in the dark at their inside joke.
“Besides, you’re here with me now and this is enough.”
Her hand found his, holding it tightly. He was right. They had each other and that was more than they could ask for. Hopefully, neither of them would ever feel desperate enough to resort to dark forces to change that.