Marichat Monday -- Volume 1

Chapter 5

Marinette stood leaning on her railing, still entranced in her own thoughts, eyes glued to the moon. It reminded her of the moon in that alternate future when Chat Noir had destroyed all of Paris. Tears started to well in her eyes as she remembered how heartbroken he was that he had killed his lady and how he had wanted to destroy everything just because she didn't love him. The tears threatened to spill out with no end in sight.

She had been so lost in her memory that she didn't even hear Chat Noir land on her balcony behind her.

"Hello," he said lightly, startling her as she turned around to see him. "I didn't mean to startle you," he said. "That seems to be the tradition now, huh?" he asked.

"No, it's fine," she whispered, looking down. It wasn't until just then that Chat Noir noticed the tears in her eyes.

Whatever was causing that pain, he wanted to console her. He couldn't bear to see the sweetest girl he knew in pain. He bridged the gap between them, grabbing her in a firm embrace.

That was what caused her to break.

Tears spilled without ceasing. She leaned her head on his chest, resting her hands also on him for support. He slid his right hand up to hold her head against his, letting her know that he was there for her.

After a few minutes, the tears no longer came. She stood there in his embrace, lacking the strength to pull away, though not wanting to anyway. He put his hand on her chin and slowly lifted it until she was looking into his eyes.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, staring into her eyes.

She took a moment to compose herself before speaking. "I just don't know what to do," she began, sniffling. After another moment, she continued, "the boy I am in love with has feelings for someone else, and now I think they're dating, and I am so heartbroken, but he always told me how great a friend I am, but I don't think he knew about my feelings for him, but that doesn't matter because he loves someone else anyway, and it's so hard to give up on him, but I want him to be happy, and I don't think he'd be happy with me because of her, but I still don't know how I feel deep down, and it's all just a mess . . ." she rambled on, summoning tears that just wouldn't come.

"Whoever it is, I don't think he deserves your love," Chat Noir said, holding her closer to let her know that he was there for her.

They stood there in the embrace in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Marinette summoned her typical strength and pulled herself away, trying to act like she hadn't just spilled her whole heart out to him.

"What about yourself? Aren't you still in love with Ladybug?" she asked.

He shook his head and sighed, not knowing fully what to say. "I don't know," he began. "She keeps saying that there's another boy she's in love with, but it's hard to get over her. I thought I had feelings for another girl here recently, but I keep thinking about Ladybug," he said.

"Maybe she also thinks it's too dangerous for you two to date," she suggested, frowning and once again looking at the ground. Chat Noir noticed the pain behind her words. "That must be one of the things she told herself in order to get over her feelings for me," he reasoned to himself.

He walked over to her railing, leaning on it and beckoning for Marinette to follow. She walked over and stood beside him, taking his lead in staring at the moon once more.

He looked over at her. He saw how beautiful her eyes really were. How could he not have noticed before? He put his arm around her and pulled her right beside him as he looked back to the moon.

They stood there together for a moment. "The moon sure is beautiful tonight," Marinette finally broke the silence.

"You know what else is beautiful?" Chat Noir said. Marinette shook her head. "You," he answered.

She giggled. "Was that an actual attempt at flirting?" she wondered.

He looked into her eyes. "Man, her hair is so beautiful too," he remarked to himself. "I mean, she is beautiful, but her hair is simply stunning," he said to himself.

He pulled her into another hug. "You, me, tomorrow just after sunset, on the rooftops?" he asked.

Marinette leaned her head on his chest once more, still wondering how in the world Chat Noir could be saying this to her, but she knew deep down the answer to his question. "Sure," she whispered.

"It's a date," he said, pulling away and winking.

And with that, he was gone into the night, having leapt away, leaving Marinette with her thoughts.