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And when their faces are just mere centimeters away, and she can feel his breath on her and the warmth radiating from him, he asks, softly, “C-Can I kiss you?”
It’s unexpected. His breath smells like chocolate, and his voice has a small quiver in it, nervousness (but Chat Noir being nervous is a concept Marinette herself can’t wrap her head around, because he’s Chat, the overconfident guy who flirts with Ladybug relentlessly, trying the cheesiest pick up lines she’d ever heard. And here he is, stuttering to ask Marinette, not Ladybug, if he can kiss her.)
It’s perfect though. From where they are, high up above, Paris spreads outwards till the horizon, and theres a faint orange-ish glow in the sky because of all the lights, sparkling like candles in the dark. Cars and buses trail over roads, reduced to small, bright yellow dots and the breeze that sweeps through the air carries a slight chill and the smell of the wildflowers that grow around here during spring.
And in the back of her head, she only thinks about how perfect it is. The mood, the lights, the scenery- everything.
But there’s Chat.
She likes Chat, she really does, and spending time with him as Marinette, a normal, human friend, rather than Ladybug, his partner in fighting crime and the girl he’s relentlessly chasing after, has taught her there’s a lot more to him then she thinks, and maybe, yes, maybe, if it were not for something else, she would have whispered yes and they’d kiss here in the twilight, upon a lonely hill in Paris where the wind was cold and smelt of daffodils and spring flowers, and where Paris watched.
But it’s there, and she knows, HE knows, that there’s someone else. There’s Adrien.
She moves her face away, and there’s a small part of her that feels a pang of regret or disappointment or some sort of emotion she can just not put her finger on, but she’s done it and there’s no going back. She turns her face away, because she doesn’t want to see how he looks right now, otherwise she’s gonna wish, wish that she’d gone and done it despite Adrien being there in her life, and despite him growing to be something a little bit more.
“Sorry,” she says, eyes still trained at city, “but I can’t.”
It takes him faster to recover than she thought it would. “No, no, it’s alright,” he says, with a shrug of his shoulders. “Should’ve thought it through.”
Marinette turns towards him and it looks like he’s hid any sign of disappointment, grinning at her sheepishly. A smile tugs at her lips, too. She opens her mouth to say something. “I-“
“Oh!” Chat’s eyes had strayed towards his ring, and he’s staring at it, intently, an expression of concern on his face. “Hey, I’d love to walk you home and all, Marinette, but, uh-“ He gets up. “I need to go, sorry.”
He turns away from her, ready to leave but she calls out. “Hey, Chat, wait!”
He looks towards her, and in that time she’s gotten up and is right next to him. She rises to her tiptoes, and kisses his forehead. “See you.”
Marinette can’t tell when it’s this dark, and when he’s wearing a huge black mask over the top half of his face, but she thinks that maybe he’s blushing. He’s taken aback for a moment, and then breaks into a grin.
“Yeah, see you.” He waves towards her, walking away. His walk fastens to a run, and soon he’s out of sight.
Marinette stares from where he left and sighs. She looks towards the city. Home is pretty far off, she thinks, but it’s a nice night, and the air is still fresh, so she decides to walk.