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"It was so kind of you, Zoé, but... don't ever sacrifice yourself for me or anyone else. And the same thing goes for your feelings," Marinette implores.
Zoé looks at her, unsure how to interpret Marinette's words. Marinette, I would gladly sacrifice for you.
Marinette sighs, "I know... you're in love with Adrien. Don't sacrifice your feelings for him because of me. He has the right to hear your declaration." At this point I don’t even think my love life is worth all the trouble it gives me anyway. Her face begins to burn in shame as she looks back on recent events and how everything has been going so haywire. I can’t believe I seriously tried moving on from my crush to my partner, only to get rejected because I was crazy enough to try dating him as my civilian self.
Zoé looks at Marinette worriedly thinking that she’s embarrassed about her feelings for Adrien, unwittingly closer to the truth than she could imagine.
Zoé tries to interject, "Adrien?! But..."
"Even if he doesn't reciprocate, he'd be flattered to know that you love him. Let him know how you feel about him... Zoé, you're an amazing person. One can only feel honored to be loved by you," insists Marinette. You’re doing the right thing Marinette, this is just like with Kagami, you know that romance doesn’t work out for you anyway.
"Are you sure?" doubts Zoé.
"Of course! You can't keep it to yourself!" Marinette playfully smirks at Zoé. Adrien really is lucky to be loved by her.
"But... Adrien’s not the one I’m in love with," Zoé responds.
"Oh? Who is it, then?" wonders Marinette.
Zoé just looks at Marinette and smiles, with no words needed to answer her question.
If she’s in love with a ninth grader, but it’s not Adrien, and it’s someone she thought was in love with someone else, then who could it have been?
As she gazes at her own reflection in Zoé's eyes, Marinette realizes that the person Zoé’s in love with is her.
"Oh... Oh! Oh," breaths Marinette. I don’t think I could have expected this, is Marinette’s first thought immediately followed by, Wow, I’m lucky.
Zoé keeps her tender, loving smile and gaze at Marinette, who soon walks forward and embraces her.
"I am truly, very honored. I mean it, Zoé," she insists, blushing slightly once her face is out of sight.
"Thanks, Marinette," replies Zoé in a small voice.
Zoé squeezes her one more time before letting go.
"You're right! It's such a relief to get these things off your chest. You should try it, too!" Zoé redirects. The best way out is through sometimes, hopefully this doesn’t make things weird between us, she prays.
"What do you mean?" asks Marinette, feeling slightly uneasy.
"Adrien! What are you waiting for? Go tell him you love him!"
"But— wait what? Oh no no no no no, I’m not even sure that’s something I want to do anymore," Marinette replies, despondently. Thinking back on her disaster of a relationship with Luka and how she almost got akumatized from being rejected by Chat Noir. I can’t believe I seriously even thought that was a good idea! Like how could I have forgotten "it was our love that did this to the world". Marinette resists the urge for her eyes to tear up.
"Marinette... I've been wanting to tell you how I feel since the day I met you. But since you're madly in love with Adrien, I thought it would be pointless and ruin things between us. But look, I just told you, and I can see it doesn't change anything," affirms Zoé.
"Even if it wouldn’t change anything— "
"You were right: telling someone that you love them doesn't ruin anything. It's time you started taking your own advice, too. What are you waiting for? Go!" proclaims Zoé.
Marinette takes a second to stand there and internalize Zoé’s words of encouragement, however after a moment her eyes slowly begin to tear up as her composure finally cracks. Zoé worriedly frowns, good going genius you made her cry, and rushes forward to gently place her hands on Marinette’s shoulders in support.
"Zoé, I appreciate your support I really do, but honestly, right now, I think romance is one of the last I should be focusing on right now," slowly a single tear runs down one of her cheeks, "My track record with romance has been disastrous every time I tried apparently, and I really don’t think continuing to try is sustainable for me anymore," confesses Marinette.
"You shouldn’t give up on romance completely Marinette! You’re amazing, lovely, kind, beautiful, always hopeful, always ready to lend a hand, there’s no one out there who wouldn’t be extremely lucky to have you!" Zoé insists. If I ever find out who’s made her feel like this, I swear—
Marinette smiles tearfully, "I’m also a liar, Zoé. I keep secrets, I break promises, I get these crazy ideas in my head and then waste mine and everyone else’s time on them, often with disastrous results. Plus, I have a lot going on in my personal life to the point where I don’t think I could even give my partner the attention they deserve, you’ve probably heard about Luka and I’s previous relationship." She sinks to the ground slowly, breathing getting heavier, as she gets ready to continue her self-berating spiral, but Zoé sits down next to her and squeezes her shoulders and pulls her into a hug and cradles her head.
"Marinette, stop! I don’t know why your being so hard on yourself all of a sudden but if anyone has said anything lately to you that’s putting you down you have got to not believe them, no matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, Marinette, you are amazing and deserve love," admonishes Zoé.
Marinette stares wide-eyed at Zoé, processing what she just said, beginning to tear up and blush from her kindness. "Sorry for melting down on you like that, Zoé," Marinette apologizes, pressing down on her eyes with her hands, cheeks burning red with embarrassment and shame for not being able to keep her problems to herself like usual. "It’s been a really rough school year," she waveringly smiles, trying to brush past the moment.
"You don’t need to apologize for feeling emotions, Marinette. I know that everyone here has probably gotten used to feeling extra responsible for policing how they feel under the threat of akumas, but you can’t help feeling the way you feel Marinette. Holding everything in and trying to ignore any of the bad stuff is a one-way ticket to breaking down like you just did. Aren’t you able to share any of your burdens with your friends?" She always seems so happy and lively, has she always felt so alone inside?
"I’ve been able to rely on Alya a little, but a lot of this is solely for me to deal with Zoé," insists Marinette. My ladybug responsibilities aren’t exactly something I can share with someone. Thinking back on the attempt to renounce the miraculi to Scarabella and Kitty Noire and the disastrous result of that makes the weight on Marinette’s shoulders weigh even heavier.
"Even if that is the case, even if you can’t share anything and if you have to lie and keep secrets and break promises, you still deserve to be cared for and loved, to have a shoulder you can cry on and rely on even if you can’t share any words about what you’re going through," reassures Zoé.
Marinette begins to tear up again at Zoé’s kind words, and eventually begins actively sobbing. God, I don’t know what I did to deserve this girl, I guess karma does eventually come back around huh.
Oh my god you’ve really screwed it all up now, begins to run through Zoé’s mind, hugging Marinette tighter as she gets ready to begin looking around for butterflies. Before she can begin her own internal spiral though, she sees Marinette look up at her smiling as she’s crying.
"Thank you, Zoé."
"Of course! It’s the honest truth Marinette. And besides, I couldn’t just stand back and let someone talk bad about the girl I’m in love with now, could I?" Zoé playfully asks.
Marinette flushes red at the reminder, but continues more steadily, "No, really, truly, thank you, I think I’ve needed to hear something like that for a long time."
The two girls sit there for a moment looking at each other eventually Marinette's blush begins to deepen more under the constant adoring gaze Zoé gives her.
I really hope I’m not willfully misinterpreting the signals here, but she’s been blushing at some of the things I’ve been saying hasn’t she— oh my god I’ve been flirting with her haven’t I, oh my god Zoé, priorities, when a girl is having a breakdown is not the time to be flirting. Zoé begins to turn pink as well.
Marinette coughs, "We’ve been standing out here for a while, huh, I’m sorry to have kept you out here and wasted your time but— "
"Marinette, time spent with you is never wasted," Zoé interrupts. Zoé flushes darker as she hears her own words out loud. Why am I only able to flirt when it’s on accident, seriously.
Marinette’s red face intensifies, "What I seant to may was— meant to say was, I should probably head home now, huh?" …did I really just start stuttering in front of her.
She just stuttered in front of me! Cute! Zoé screams internally. "You don’t have to go! You could spend the night here?" Why did I just say that!
Marinette starts stammering, but Zoé pushes onward saying, "What I meant is that today’s been really exhausting, what with Chloe trying to frame you and the akumatized villain, as well as everything we just talked about here, and the thought of you going back home to your room and being all alone after everything doesn’t sit right with me."
"Of course, your parents are probably expecting you back home, and maybe it was weird of me to offer at all but…" Zoé trails off.
Marinette sort of just stands there wide eyed for a moment before realizing that it’s her turn to talk, "No, it wasn’t weird at all! It’s actually very sweet of you," smiles Marinette. "To be honest, I wasn’t really thrilled with the idea of having to drive all the way back home and then lay alone after this exhausting day, especially after being emotionally spent now, so I really appreciate the offer."
It hits her now that she really is exhausted and isn’t really up for expending any more energy tonight, let alone arriving home and having to explain her emotional state to her parents.
Zoé cheers internally. Yes! I didn’t make it weird. "Come on in then, I’ll show you up to my room, unless that’s weird, um— I mean I can ask my dad and see if I can’t get you a room for the night then," smiles Zoé.
"Oh, I wouldn’t want to impose too much, and don’t worry about it Zoé, I can just stay with you, it can be just like a sleepover," Marinette reassures her.
Marinette calls her parents to let them know that she’ll be having a sleepover with Zoé tonight, apologizing for the sudden notice. Zoé chimes in that she’s sorry it was such late notice that they were planning the dance together and lost track of time and that since Marinette was tired, she could just stay over. Marinette’s parents agree and Zoé lets out a sigh of relief.
Marinette giggles. "Did you think they were gonna be hard on you for suddenly whisking me away from them?" she teases.
Zoé blushes before glaring playfully, "You never know with these kinds of scenarios, plus it never hurts to be polite and cautious to your friends’ parents and aim for their approval." Plus, in my case it never hurts to garner favor with your love interest’s family.
Marinette laughs, "Well I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. My parents have never had anything negative to say about you, and my mother still remembers how nice and kind you were when we first met, and you helped me deal with the apple situation." Zoé really has been nothing but nice and kind to me, hasn’t she? Marinette smiles at the thought and memory.
Zoé smiles along with her at the memory as she shows Marinette where her room is in the hotel.
"Sorry if my room is messy at all, I wasn’t really expecting company tonight, and oh—! I can get you an air mattress if you want, or I can just take the couch and you can sleep on the bed," suggests Zoé.
"There’s no way I’m kicking you out of your own bed, Zoé," retorts Marinette. "If anything, I should take the couch, I’m a master at falling asleep regardless of where I am."
"As you’re the guest and I’m the host I would feel bad about taking the big hotel bed and leaving you on the lounge," frowns Zoé, "We could both— share, the bed?" Zoé suggests, somewhat nervously, beginning to redden.
Marinette flushes slightly as well but presses forward, "I’m fine with it if you’re fine with it!"
"Oh, I don’t suppose I could borrow some pajamas, could I?" asks Marinette.
"For sure!" Zoé acquiesces.
Both girls take some time to get ready for bed, brushing their teeth and changing into sleepwear. Zoé crawls into the left side of the bed and Marinette slides into the right side of the bed. However, just as she puts her head against her pillow, she feels something hard beneath her pillow.
"What’s this?" Marinette wonders aloud, as she pulls out the picture frame from under the pillow.
"Wait!" Zoé tries to reach over her to grab the photo and stop her from looking at it, but she’s too late as Marinette looks down at the picture frame in her hand and sees a framed photo of herself. Zoé’s face goes totally red as she rolls over and turns away from Marinette embarrassed, "You weren’t supposed to see that," she mutters.
Marinette is shocked for a moment before her face heats up and she laughs. "Zoé, you really don’t need to be embarrassed about this, just earlier today you saw my Adrien poster-board from back when I was obsessed, a single framed photo is nothing to be embarrassed about compared to that," she reassures her, patting Zoé on her back.
Zoé giggles, "That’s true I suppose but you have to admit that it’s still embarrassing for the person you have a crush on to see what you have of them." This is so mortifying I can’t believe I forgot about hiding the picture frame under the pillows earlier today.
She’s so cute being embarrassed over something this small. At least she never had a whole dedicated shrine or covered her walls with her crush like I did. "Really Zoé, don’t worry about it at all, if anything I’m flattered," Marinette reassures her.
Zoé rolls back over to face Marinette’s side of the bed, face bright red but smiling, "Well, I’m glad you’re not bothered about it ha-ha, but please let me put it away now," Zoé requests.
"Sure, go for it," Marinette says as she hands the photo to Zoé, and as Zoé is putting it away she says, "for fairness’s sake, I should get a photo of you to frame in my room too." Marinette giggles.
Zoé’s face warms as she thinks about the implications that statement has. She’s probably just teasing and half asleep right now don’t overthink it girl.
Zoé climbs back into the bed and now both girls are laying down to rest. Time passes as they make small chit chat as they grow more and more tired, the longer time goes the softer their voices get and the more they turn towards each other to keep hearing each other. As they gradually run out of things to talk about their hands slowly inch towards each other’s and once Zoé tentatively holds one of Marinette’s hands Marinette in her tiredness swiftly enjoins their other hands and links both their fingers. As consciousness leaves her, "Goodnight Zoé, thank you again for everything," whispers Marinette as she gently rests her forehead against Zoé’s.
Zoé turns beet red but smiles happily as she rubs her thumbs over Marinette’s hands and quietly whispers back, "Goodnight Marinette, sleep well."
Both girls fall asleep content and comforted in the care of the other.