Appreciating Chat Noir

Chapter Seventeen

Marinette watched him leave with an open mouth, hesitating for only a moment before jumping into action. He had leaped through her skylight leaving rain pouring onto her bed as Chat Noir had not bothered to close it behind him. She ignored her shivering and followed him. Using her ladybug-like reflexes to catch up to him, she grabbed onto his tail moments before he leaped away. She made it just in time.

"Chat Noir, please. I- I know it looks bad but you've got to believe me that I have only the best of intentions." Marinette begged, silently pleading with him in her heart, hoping he would understand.

He sighed and turned back around, leaping back onto her balcony. Marinette let go of his tail and noticed as he couldn't quite face her the way he did before. He tried not to notice the rain swirling with her tears as it ran down her cheeks and chastised himself for failing.

No matter how much her admission hurt him he couldn't quite bring himself to not care like his father had. Maybe that was a good thing. The last thing this world needed was another Hawkmoth. "How am I supposed to believe that you truly cared if you only kissed me AFTER you found out who I really am?"

Marinette stayed silent, cursing the rain for blurring her vision. "I-

"How am I supposed to believe that you didn't just suddenly want to kiss me that moment you found out you were secretly dating 'Adrien Agreste' the model? How am I supposed to believe that you really care about ME, Chat Noir, and not just him, the person everyone else wants me to be? The person people believe me to be?"

"Chat Noir, I care about YOU! I would NOT have kissed you had I not cared. Contrary to popular belief, I don't just go around kissing random people." Marinette crossed her arms, beginning to shiver without a sweater on.

Chat Noir noticed and restrained himself, urging himself not to find her a blanket and wrap her in it himself. He was twitching by not helping. Must come from his mothers' side of the family – his father was not the caring type. "Yet you'd kiss me after what you found out. What impeccable timing." Chat Noir scoffed, turning around to look at Paris.

If he didn't look at her, perhaps he wouldn't fall for those blue eyes, or her caring heart, or remember what her lips felt like against his own. Oh, why had she said that, why?! They could have had something beautiful. And then she went and messed it up.

"Why won't you believe me? What do I have to do to make you believe me?" Marinette heard the desperation creep in her voice and for a moment, she didn't even care. "I want to kiss you – both parts of you. Does it matter if I once wanted to kiss Adrien Ageste? What if right now, I want to kiss Chat Noir instead. Why does that matter?"

He turned around with a dramatic flourish. "It matters because I want to know that you truly want me. I want to know that you kissed me not because of who I might be, but because of who I am. I am not just Adrien Agreste – the boy who my father wants me to be – but Chat Noir, a free man."

"I know that! Don't you know I know that? I know who you are, don't you? Don't you see that? I see you – I know both parts of you and I want both parts of you. Don't you see that I care?" Marinette's eyes softened.

"Would you have kissed Chat Noir if you had never found out he was Adrien?" He stood eerily still; a cold seriousness came over him.

"What?"

"Just answer the question."

She hesitated for a moment before responding. "You know before all this dating shenanigans started, I would have honestly said no. But after getting to know you, the real you, there have been moments that I have come very close. It didn't work out those times, but despite that my answer is yes. With time, I'm sure it would have happened. Instead, I found out now, and things happened the way they actually did. Please, come back inside Chat. We can talk about this calmly. Fighting out here in the rain is such a cliché!"