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“You haven’t cut off contact with him.”
It was more of statement than a question, but she would rather interpret it as the latter. A statement seemed more like a fact while a question could be left confirmed, denied or simply unanswered.
And she chose not to answer.
His frown and newly crossed arms signalled his displeasure with her.
“You know what will happen if he finds out, Mari.”
She rolled her eyes in response.
Here he goes again.
“By dragging this out, you’re making it worse. At some point it’s going to implode – all of this and there will be no chance of convincing him-”
“-there is no chancing convincing him if you still believe he’s no good, Luka.” She interjected firmly, crossing her arms as she met his gaze. “Why can’t you have some faith in him? He was good once; he could be good again!”
“Ladybug,” Luka hissed as he stepped towards her, closing the distance between them, “He almost cataclysmed you out of existence today. If I didn’t get there when I did…”
Marinette closed her eyes as his hand caressed her cheek.
“I know.” She whispered, leaning into his touch. She forgot how easy it was to fall into old patterns with him.
“How are you?” He suddenly asked as she felt his fingers brush across her skin. She knew he was searching.
“I’ll be ok.”
“Are you sure? You took a pretty bad hit.”
Marinette took a step back as she flashed him a small, hopefully convincing smile. “I said I’ll be ok. I heal fast, remember?”
His frown told her everything she needed to know – he wanted to check for himself.
“Let me see.” Luka insisted, hands already reaching out to lift her shirt.
“No.” Marinette protested as she took a step back, her own hands blocking his.
It was taking a considerable amount of strength at the moment to not wince at her own shirt brushing against her ribs. If he touched it while he checked – well, she would cry from the pain.
“Mari.” Luka started again, more insistent. “If it’s not that bad, show me.”
He really wasn’t going to let this go, was he?
“Luka, seriously no.” The hero huffed, taking another step back as her fellow hero reached out. “It’ll be gone in like three days.”
“Then show-”
“-back off!”
Tap, tap, tap.
Luka’s arms fell to his side as he stood to his full height; eyes trained on the skylight. Her own eyes followed his gaze as they were met with blue glowing ones.
“Text me,” The usually calm musician insisted as he threw on his jacket, “once the stray leaves so I know you’re alive.”
With that, Luka left – slamming her door.
Thump.
Marinette didn’t need to turn around her to know who was behind her.
“Well, your boyfriend’s quite the dramatic one, isn’t he? Remind me not to date a creative type. Definitively seems like the type to key a car over the smallest fight.”
“Ex.” She corrected, as if he didn’t know that or was privy to their breakup.
“I stand by the car keying thing.” She could hear the smirk in his voice without even looking at him.
The heroine rolled her eyes.
“Something tells me that you would deserve your car being keyed by any of your exes.”
“Probably accurate.” He agreed. “My past relationships were quite volatile. Explosive really – appears to be just like yours.”
She had the urge to chew him out for that comment. Spinning on her heel to face him and do just that, she paused as she took him in.
As white as snow, there was her once dark knight leaning against the stairs leading up to her bed as he swung his tail with his hand. All she could imagine was him as the once scrawny teenage hero trying to pull off that exact pose.
She couldn’t conceal her smile fast enough.
“What?” Chat Blanc asked frowning. “You don’t think I’ve had volatile relationships before?”
“Volatile, no doubt but I don’t think you’ve had more than one relationship, if any.”
His tail flickered with annoyance as her own smirk set in.
“I’ve had plenty of relationships-”
“-oh, I’m sure you have-”
“-in fact, I just broke up with my 5th girlfriend last-”
“-first and only, if she even exists.”
His tail was really flickering with annoyance now. She was revelling in it.
“I’ll humour you.” She challenged as she brushed past him to perch herself on the top of her stairs, hoping to lead him onto her roof where they typically hung out. “If she really exists, why did girlfriend #5 dump you?”
“I,” he insisted, gesturing to himself, “broke up with her.”
Marinette stared down at him, leaning forward with a playful smile. “Really?”
He took a step up.
“She and I lacked chemistry, unlike…”
“Unlike?”
He took another step, just a few inches shorter than her now.
“Unlike you and I, ma petite souris.”
“Yeah?” She asked, eyes falling to his lips as she let the mixing of their breaths intoxicate her for a second. “Sad to think you lacked chemistry with your right hand. Must be sad for you to leave it for left again.”
He clearly ignored her comment, Chat’s eyes fixated on her mouth.
At some point he must have taken another step as his mouth was now centimetres away from hers – another reason why this was a bad idea beyond Luka’s worries.
The pull was always hard to ignore.
She took a deep breath in willing herself to move away, only to be stopped by Chat’s hand gently holding her wrist.
“Let’s test it.” He invited, leading her hand to his chest. “Let’s spark our flame.”
Her fingers fiddled with the bell around his collar before she met his heated gaze.
“I’m more of a wine and dine type of girl myself. Long term rather than just a fling…even if that fling would be great.” She whispered the end, eyes falling to his lips once again.
With the way his gloved hand was travelling up her leg and onto her thigh, she was having a hard time trying to remember she was a wine and dine type-
“Fuck!” She groaned as her leg kicked him away and she curled in on herself.
Her ribs were burning.
She knew he didn’t mean to cause her pain. Not her as Marinette – Ladybug was a different story. This was on her; she knew what he was like, especially lately when their dynamic became flirty. She let his hand wander and the ache in her ribs was a result.
“Princess, merde, are you okay?” Marinette heard him ask as she felt his presence next to her. “Lemme see.”
“I’m fine.” She croaked out, not bothering to unfurl.
“Stop lying to me. You’re clearly not.” He insisted annoyed, despite his hand gently caressing her back. “What the hell happened? Is that why Luka was trying to get his hands on you when I arrived? And here I thought he was just being his normal asshole self.”
She flipped him off.
“He’s not an asshole.” She murmured once she felt like talking was possible again. “You two would actually get along if you took the opportunity to get to know one another.”
He hummed in response, rubbing soothing circles on her lower back.
Marinette leaned against him.
She could feel his lips pressed against her temple.
It was too romantic – too caring for someone who didn’t fully understand why.
She sighed, lifting her heard to look at him.
By the way his masked moved, she could swear he was raising a brow behind it.
“What?” Chat asked. “You gonna tell me now?”
Which part? She questioned internally. How I got this giant bruise or why you keep coming back to me?
Her eyes fell to his other hand that that was on her shoulder. The glow of the blue paw print mocking her.
The heroine looked away.
She knew whether or not he realized it, the placement of that particular hand was purposeful – it felt right. Its proximity to the earrings was pleasing; she could bask in its satisfaction.
A ying and yang.
The imbalance from fighting on opposite sides could be presently ignored. Or rather, the pull of their Miraculous’ towards the other was lessened when they were close like this.
“I fell.” Marinette lied, arms wrapping around herself. “At work. I’m still learning to walk in 6-inch heels-”
“-bullshit.” He spit out. “I’ve seen you walk in those 6-inch heels, and you do it naturally. You wouldn’t be able to make it look that easy if you were still learning. Try again.”
It was moments like this that she swore she knew his civilian self. Who he was exactly, she was unsure of but those comments she always made a note of.
“And how would you know that?” She inquired, eyeing him.
“Answer me first and then I’ll tell you.”
Perhaps she was eyeing him too suspiciously or perhaps it was just enough.
“When I first started coming around, you’d get into these design moods after work where you’d be so engrossed by what you’re making and forget to take them off.”
Did she really do that? She never noticed.
“You’d forgot to eat too and that why I always brought some food.” He tacked on. “Now tell me what the hell actually happened.”
Marinette frowned; she couldn’t get out of it that easy.
“As natural as I am walking in heels, it’s hard to evacuate work and run away from an akuma attack just outside of it.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. The attack happened right outside of Gabriel when she was coming back from lunch. While the building was left largely unharmed, the fashion company would insist that their employees flea as safely as possible. Her story, if he pressed further, was plausible.
It would cover up the fact that she got hit hard enough in battle to crack her ribs – had her super suit not took the brunt and left her with a large bruise.
“Let me see.” He insisted, voice rough as it broke through her thoughts.
She met his gaze, noticing that Chat Blanc was staring at her hard.
Perhaps her story would lead to worse problems.
“And if I say no?” She probed gently, fiddling with the texture of her pants as she kept her arms wrapped around her knees.
“I’ll…” He paused as she felt his fingers touching the bottom edge of her shirt, “…destroy your shirt.”
Marinette shot him a glare – she knew exactly what that meant. He’d cataclysm it.
“You’re lucky this is one of my favourite shirts.” She cursed as she unfurled and placed her legs on the steps below her. “Also don’t wanna give you a free show.”
She hiked her shirt up enough to show the new blemish on her body.
Before she could even blink he was suddenly face-to-face with her bruise.
“Fuck, Marinette.” He growled out, fingers on her stomach next to purple and blue mark. “This is from a fall during the attack? A fall? Why the hell didn’t those stupid fuckin’ white butterflies fix it? It always fixes things caused by akumas.”
Akuma yes, not hits from Chat Blanc.
She looked away, idle fingers finding a way of tangling themselves in his hair.
Maybe she could distract him?
He shoved her hand away. Yeah, looks like he was too focused on being angry to let her pet him.
“I’m going to destroy her for you. I swear, I’ll take her Miraculous and wish your pain on her and remove her entire exist-”
“-it’s not her fault!” She yelled, far too loud. “It’s mine.”
The look in his eyes told her that he didn’t believe her.
“Because you were trying to get away from an attack despite it happening outside of your work?” He asked, equally as loud. “Or… or are you trying to blame me? Because I’m on the side with the akumas? I’m not the one that failed you. I know how to use my power when she can’t even use hers properly to fix you.”
“I’m not blaming either of you.” Marinette said, after he finished. “And you can’t blame her like that, do you really think she wouldn’t want to fix me if she knew? You worked with her once, you know what she’s like. Can you tell me in all certainty that she wouldn’t try to patch me up if she knew? Even if I were her worst enemy?”
The way he avoided eye contact with her told her enough.
“And you, mister,” She stated clearly as she dropped her shirt and tilted his head up to meet her gaze, “you can’t blame yourself. I know you enough – you wouldn’t purposefully hurt a civilian. Especially me.”
“Especially you?” He challenged; his voice thick…with affection?
“Especially me.” She confirmed with a nod, caressing his chin.
“You might be for the ba-” Marinette stopped herself, knowing he didn’t like to be called that, “- losing team who instigated the war, but you only care about Miraculouses.”
“It’s not the only thing I care about.” He whispered, pressing a kiss to her palm.
She couldn’t help the gasp that caught in her throat.
“…also doesn’t meant I don’t blame her.”
The heroine rolled her eyes as she pulled her hand away.
“Her power failed you.” Blanc insisted, his own hand chasing hers.
She let him take it, but she really couldn’t stand to let him crucify her alter ego.
“I failed her first.” She mentioned, much to his confusion. “Multimouse, remember?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” He intrigued further, moving to sit next to her.
“When a person becomes a holder of a Miraculous, they bond with it. They’re infused with some of its magic for life. When I became Multimouse, I accepted the magic by transforming. I accepted it for the good and the bad that came with it, whether I realized it or not. However, when there is an imbalance in the magic, it’s felt in every Miraculouses – there are consequences. One consequence is that when you get hurt as a result of the imbalance, magical butterflies can’t fix you. You should know that. Didn’t you realize that you retain some scars and bruises from battle?”
It was a half-truth, only half a lie.
In her first battle against Chat Blanc where she was thrown into a brick wall, she learned quickly that some of the bruises or fractures she received as Ladybug stayed. When she confronted the Guardian at the time, he confirmed it was due to the imbalance from the Ladybug and the Black Cat Miraculouses being at odds with one another. Until those Miraculouses were back in harmony, there would be a number of issues to occur.
However, she lied about receiving it as Multimouse. In fact, other Miraculouses holders were unaffected by the imbalance in that way. Viperion never walked away from a battle injured, and she was sure Hawkmoth walked away perfectly fine. It was just her and Chat that would walk away battered and bruised.
Marinette really hoped that Hawkmoth knew nothing about that and most importantly, if he did, he would never tell Chat Blanc willingly about the imbalance issues. She was betting her dual identity on it.
“I mean…I…” Her once best friend mumbled, clearly losing himself in thought. “You were only the holder of the mouse for a battle. One battle that happened so long ago – how are you still feeling the effects?”
The hero shrugged, feigning innocence.
“I don’t know. I’m not part of that circle anymore. I only know so much from the conversation I had with Ladybug after the battle. She warned me until she found a new holder for the mouse, I would feel some potential effects-”
“- so, it is her fault! She gave you the Miraculous in the first place and couldn’t protect you enough from revealing your identity! Then she told you about these potential effects without actually knowing what they were. She chose to let you get hurt and continues-”
“-enough.” She snapped. “I chose to say yes to receiving it. I chose to help her. I didn’t exactly choose to expose myself by getting my Miraculous snagged on some stupid piece of metal but that doesn’t change the fact that I make decisions for myself. And I don’t blame her for not choosing someone else to give the Mouse Miraculous too – she hasn’t needed it since. And why should she give it away? To take away my minor pain?”
“Yes!” Chat insisted, getting equally as heated. “Why aren’t you holding her accountable? She could be-”
“-If I hold her accountable, then I have to hold you accountable too because you both caused this stupid imbalance.” Marinette silenced him. “And I’m not going to do that. I refuse too. Now move on.”
She could tell by his demeanour that even if they moved on, he would be mulling over this – it’s exactly what she wanted to avoid. She didn’t need him thinking of himself as a bad person because of this.
Reaching over, she slipped her hand in his.
“Look, I’m going to be fine and as long as I avoid akuma attacks, I’ll continue to be fine. More than that, I heal fast because of the magic.” She explained nudging his shoulder. “You said it looked bad enough to go to the hospital, in three days, you won’t be able to tell that I had a bruise there in the first place. Hell, by tomorrow, it’ll already look a lot better.”
He stayed silent for quite some time.
“I’ll be back every night then.”
She nodded in response. She knew fighting him on it would be a moot point.
That and she liked the company.
“Maybe I should just stay the night?” Chat suggested, looking back at her bed. “Just to be sure. You know, wait on you hand and foot until your injury gets better, petite souris.”
She raised a brow in response, a small smirk highlighting her features.
“Oh?”
“I could distract you from the pain.” He proposed, a mischievous glint in his eye. “You just lay back and relax and I’ll-”
“-put on some of your dumb, nerd animes to increase my dopamine levels? Sounds great.”
“I was actually going to say that I could stroke your hair the way you sometimes do to mine.”
“Oh.” She breathed. “O-ok.”
Marinette silently watched as he crawled across her bed to prop some of the pillows up before leaning back against them. Opening his arms, he invited her in.
She didn’t hesitate to lay her head on his chest, letting the sound of his heartbeat lull her into a safety she only felt with him.
His fingers quickly found its way into her hair – first removing her hair tie before burying itself between her dark locks.
She closed her eyes, letting out a satisfied hum in response.
“For the record,” She mumbled, throwing an arm across him, “I might not have your Miraculous and therefore, don’t have your cat need to be touched or pet or whatever, but as a regular human, I am enjoying this very much.”
She could feel his light chuckle in response.
“For the record,” Chat Blanc mimicked, “About earlier when you tried to correct me, I wouldn’t take advantage of you like this. I know I flirt with you a lot and while I do mean a lot of what I say, if you want me, you need to make the first move.”
Marinette concentrated on her breathing, trying to ensure that he wouldn’t feel her heart speedup from his words.
“I know I’m not on the…popular of the two teams. As much as I don’t like to say it, I’m a villain and my power is quite literally destruction. I’ve already destroyed things with these hands. I don’t think I was ever built to be something good, much less have something good in my life. Souris, you’re way too good for me – you always have been since the moment you took me into your home. I haven’t even given you a proper name to call me by and since then, I’ve just been taking things from you. I’m so selfish that I’ll keep taking whatever you’re willing to give me. Even now, I’d kiss you if you let me.”
She closed her eyes tighter. Opening them would be too tempting especially with the pull she was feeling.
She needed to focus on the pain in her side – distract herself. But could she really? Especially when he was talking down about himself? She hated when he did that.
Summoning as much courage as she could, Marinette opened her eyes as she tilted her head to see his once green eyes better.
“I don’t think the power of destruction doomed you to be a villain. Nor do I think you can’t be good, or you don’t deserve good things. On the contrary, I think you deserve them more to help you see that you’re not as bad or dangerous as you make yourself out to be.”
Sitting up a little more, she looked at him at eye-level as she leaned against the wall with him.
“I also don’t think you’re right in idolizing me. I have faults. Even now, I’m the one being selfish. Having you here is me being completely selfish even when-”
- even when you don’t know that I’m your enemy. That I initially entertained months ago to learn more about you to take your Miraculous. That I’m still your enemy and you don’t know and Luka is right, it’ll be worse when you find out and it’ll be worse if I entertain this any longer.
“Even when?” He repeated, blue eyes searching hers.
Even when I think I have feelings for you. A lot of feelings. Feelings I think I always had, even when we used to be on the same team.
“Even when I don’t know your name, but I want to kiss you too.”
Maybe she could blame the pain in her right side and say she wasn’t in her right mind. Or maybe she could blame their close proximity or the way he had been caressing her hand in his. Maybe she could just blame the pull of their Miraculouses or the general energy of the room.
Or maybe she could be honest for once and just blame herself.
Because when he said:
“My name is-”
She had to cut him off. She didn’t have a choice. Knowing him meant taking his Miraculous away. It meant hurting him.
And she couldn’t do that.
Not right now.
So, Marinette kissed her stray.
And he kissed her back – just as enthusiastically, just as passionately. She could feel a pleasing buzz in her earrings and by the way his fingers curled around hers, he felt it too. The harmony, the balance.
He could convince her to be on his side right now, and she would undoubtedly say yes - a thousand times yes. The need for synchronicity was overwhelming.
If she wasn’t intoxicated before, she was now.
At some point, his fingers brushed her ear, as if knew – as if he’d always known who she was. Then when his ring almost touched her earring, she knew, to her own dismay, they had to stop because if he didn’t already know, he would.
Pressing one last chaste kiss to his lips, Marinette moved to bury her head in his neck to calm herself down.
By the time she would wake up in the morning with one particular man typically dressed in white leather, she knew a few things:
First, the bruise on her right side would be completely gone. Vanished as if it had never been there in the first place.
Second, while you could fall asleep while donning a super suit, you might not wake up with one.
And third and most importantly, she was utterly, utterly screwed.