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Marinette doesn't know how this happened, really. Before, she had been sitting on her balcony, relaxing after a long day, when suddenly there was a very upset looking black cat sitting on her railing. With that pitiful look in his eye-the very one that makes him look like a kicked puppy- she knew she couldn't just turn him away. Besides, Chat Noir had never come to her for anything, save any akuma related incidents. So that is how she found herself making two hot chocolates and grabbing blankets so she could sit outside at ten o'clock at night to see what was distressing a normally cheerful Chat Noir.
After they gotten gotten settled, wrapped around in fluffy blankets and carefully sipping the freshly made chocolate beverage, Marinette carefully studied her companion for the time being. While he had seemed excited about a sugary drink and a warm blanket, he had now resumed the state to which he showed up like. His eyes were looking forlornly at the Parisian skyline and his ears were slightly drooping down. Even his mouth, which usually was stretched out into a grin that stretched across his face, had taken to the sad memo and had it's corners turned downwards. In short, he did not seem happy at all.
They sat together in silence for a few minuets before Marinette quietly spoke. "What's wrong Chat?" Chat Noir looked up in surprise at the sound of his name, but other than that, his expression did not change.
"I wish I knew," Chat said, glancing down at the mug nestled between his hands. "but every time I ask myself that question, all I feel is pain. How can some people look fine every day when they are aching inside? That's something that's almost inconceivable, if it weren't for the fact that I'm also doing that as my civilian self. For a while, each smile has been forced, each laugh has felt as if it's going to destroy me from the inside. But I don't know why."
Marinette looked at him and felt so bad for the cat sitting beside her. It was one thing to be sad and no why you're sad. You might even have a chance at fixing it. But being sad and not even knowing why? Well, if that wasn't misery then Marinette didn't know what was.
She put a hand on his leather-clad shoulder. "Well, whatever it is, I'll be here to help you get through it, and I'm sure Ladybug and your friends will be too." Chat looked up a her abruptly, capturing her blue eyes with his green ones.
"Have you ever felt as if you were a nuisance to everyone around you? That everyone would just be better off if you weren't in the picture?"
Marinette drummed her fingers on her mug, taking his question into consideration. Sometimes, she did feel like a burden to her friends. With all of her missing class because of Ladybug related things and just all of her imperfections rolled together, it was no doubt a tough job being close to her. But she also knew something else.
"There was this one particular time that I'm going to share with you. It was at the beginning of the school year, and I walked into class only to find some kid that I had never seen before leaning over my seat with a gum wrapper in his hand. Beneath the wrapper and on my seat was a piece of chewed gum. Chewed gum! So, without even listening to his side of the story, I blamed him. He was a new student, and he had only been homeschooled before that. There's no doubt in my mind that I made his day worse than what it had already been. But at the time, I didn't care. The day progressed and suddenly, it's the end of the day. Sweet freedom from the prison of school. The downside was that it was raining, and I had no rain jacket or umbrella with me. But, as I was standing there, the same kid who I had basically shunned for the entire day came up and stood beside me. Naturally, at the beginning I tried to ignore him, but when he told me that he was trying to take the gum off the seat, I started to listen. I also started to feel so horrible–I was rude to him even when he was not at fault. I felt like a burden, dragging down his day. Yet, even though I was mean to him, he gave me his umbrella, without me even asking. He could have been completely dry going to the car, but instead he gave me his source of protection. I stood there, completely in shock. I think I even went delirious enough to think I heard him calling me his friend.
"But what I learned from that is, even when you think that you might be a burden to someone, chances are, they don't see you like that. And your friends will want you around regardless, because if they didn't want you around, then you wouldn't be around. They might not notice what you would consider burdensome things that you have done. I feel like, and myself is included in this, is that we concentrate on all of our flaws. And with that comes bad feelings, but we just don't know how to stop. We're so used to thinking that people would be better off without the faults that we offer the world that we forget the good that we bring in. In my opinion, it's all a balance system. The burdensome things on one side and the helpful things on another. That way we can walk through the world knowing that while we may feel like we're just extra baggage, we really aren't."
Throughout the entire time she was talking, Chat's gaze never left hers. He seemed to have been taking her words into consideration, and he had been extremely attentive during her story. In any way, she hoped she helped him. He's not a bad kid from what she's seen of him, and he seems like he truly cares about what he does when out saving Paris.
Chat spoke up. "I'm glad I came here tonight. Thank you, Marienette. Maybe I won't feel so bad in the days to come."
"Anything to help." Marinette replies, finally breaking the eye contact to scan the balcony for something. Once her eyes landed upon it, she got up and went over to that corner. "And if you ever think that you're a burden-" Marinette pulled out the umbrella from its hiding space. "-just remember that the people worth knowing don't think you are." She offered out the umbrella to Chat, who took it with a dazed look in his eye. It must have been because of how late it had gotten during his time there.
After Chat had taken the umbrella, they bid their farewells, with Chat thanking her profusely for the hot chocolate and advice.