unexpected feelings | marichat

chapter thirty-three

   alya stifled a yawn as she walked into the dupain-cheng bakery. it was 6:30 a.m, much too early to be up during summer, but here she was anyway. oh, the things she did for nino.
   sabine greeted her at the door, and alya smiled. her best friend's mom could always brighten her mood, even when it was so painfully early in the morning that all she wanted to do was go back to bed and plead to nino that they have a lazy date. "morning, sabine! is marinette here? i forgot my wallet in her room, and i'll need it for my date with nino today."
   "oh, you just missed her, honey. she's off with chat noir right now," sabine answered apologetically. alya raised a brow. chat noir, huh?
    "wow. this early?" alya asked, shocked that marinette would wake up so early for anything. she NEVER woke up early. the only time she'd woken up early willingly was to plot against adrien and kagami's trip to london, and that had ended with an embarrassing medicine mishap. early and marinette didn't mix.
    "tom and i were shocked too, but marinette seems to make an exception for chat noir. alya, if you'd like, you could go grab your wallet from her room. i'm sure marinette won't mind it."
   "thank you! say hi to tom for me," alya said, running towards the stairs leading to the dupain-cheng residency.
   "and you to nino, sweetie! have fun on your date," sabine replied, winking at alya as she passed.
   alya entered marinette's room and winced as soon as she kicked a box that was definitely not there a few days ago. did she just make this? oh, it's cute, it even has a little lock-
   the noise of something falling onto a keyboard startled her. she looked around, but found nothing. weird. she could have sworn she was alone in here. what was moving around in marinette's room?
   still, whatever it was that dropped the things had also turned on marinette's computer, and it was now showing the screensaver. alya smiled at it. it was no longer the collage of adrien photos with hearts all around it. now, it displayed a picture of marinette and chat noir, arms wrapped around each other in front of a disneyland gift shop, wearing the ridiculous disney merch they had bought that day. if she didn't know any better, she'd think they were a couple. god, and an adorable one at that.
   alya found her wallet at the corner of marinette's desk and grabbed it, taking one last look around the room. last time she was here, she didn't take the time to look at the pictures on her wall, but now she noticed that a lot of them consisted of chat noir, her friends, or her and chat noir together, with a few of adrien sprinkled along. the vast majority consisted of photos of or with chat noir, though. she smiled fondly and shook her head.
   getting up early for him? replacing adrien's pictures with his? hanging out with him more than anyone else? could she be any more obvious?!
   "girl, girl, girl. what am i going to do with you and your big, confused heart?"
(a/n: hi hii so if it wasnt clear this isnt in any character's direct pov, it's more of a third person thing, im gonna write like this whenever its not focused on adrien and mari or if something happens to either of them ;D!)
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marinette's pov
   i tried not to fall asleep as chat carried me to our destination, as he chose to walk instead of just using his stick to carry us faster.
   it was becoming increasingly hard, though, given that i'd woken up 20 minutes ago and had gotten about three hours of nonconsecutive sleep due to an akuma deciding to show up in the middle of the night. it was like hawkmoth planned his akumas to be at the worst times possible, as often as possible.
"stop falling asleep! we're almost there, i promise," chat said, jiggling me softly. i groaned and tucked my face harder into his chest. it was comfy. too comfy. i could just stay here for hours...
"here!" chat announced, putting me down just as i was dozing off for the thousandth time this morning.
"this better be good. i woke up early for you!" i warned, poking him with my finger. he laughed.
"trust me. this is as paw-some as it gets," he winked and led me into a small, boring looking building with fairy lights on the windows. as soon as we entered though, i gasped. it was anything but boring.
   there was an array of booths at the entrance, which made it look a lot like an old american diner, but the huge selection of arcade games in the background was what took the cake. it was like a mix of all the good in the world in one building sized package.
   "kitty, this place is incredible! i still don't get why i had to wake up so early, though."
   "well, i know you probably aren't a fan of all the cameras following us around when we hang out in public, sooo i pulled some strings and got good old françois to open this place for us early enough that nobody else would see us. i figured you'd forget about how early i forced you up as soon as you saw the video games."
   "well, i can't say i've forgotten about it, but you're definitely forgiven!"
   he grinned. "ready to get defeated by me in every game there is in existence?"
   i smirked at him. "don't get too cocky, kitty. it's embarrassing when you lose."
   we ended up tied. after multiple rounds of multiple games and lots of milkshake breaks, we finally reached the last arcade game we hadn't tried. the ladybug and chat noir one. by this time, a crowd had gathered around us, filming us eagerly. the place had opened a few minutes ago, and it was clear that word of chat noir being here had spread like wildfire.
   "oh, i'm so gonna win this one! i am, after all, chat noir," he grinned, taking hold of one of the joysticks.
   "yeah? well, i'm-" i paused, realizing maybe an identity reveal wasn't worth it just to prove a point. "i'm a wayy better gamer than you."
   "no! waitt, nooo, don't do that! marinette! i thought you liked me! oh, so not cool," he pouted as i beat his chat noir character over and over as different akuma victims. it was almost disturbing how realistic the characters were, like reliving the akumatizations through a screen. i tried to ignore it, though, thankful that some of the worst akumatizations weren't featured on it.
   "ha! i told you i was a better gamer," i bragged as we walked out the place with more milkshakes, having already thanked the owner for a wonderful time. i reveled in the cheers the crowd had thrown at me.
   "you got lucky. i'll beat you next time," he replied, sipping angrily from his striped straw.
   i tried not to blush at the fact that he was even planning a next time. we'd been spending time together for so long, but now it felt.. different. not in a bad way, more of a "wow i just realized i really like you but you kinda like me in a costume better but you seem to have moved on from that too so now i feel sort of dumb for rejecting you so many times and possibly losing my chances" way.
   it was unfair. because chat noir was amazing, and getting to know him was one of the best things ever, but was loving him worth breaking luka's heart? what if he didn't love me back? or if he saw me as 'just a friend', like adrien? oh, what about adrien?
   i suppressed a sigh. stupid heart. falling in love with two people at once, and practically stringing along a third. only it hadn't been stringing at first, i did like luka, but now it felt like stringing, because the light butterflies i felt around him were long gone. and i had no idea what to do with all this information.
   "-nette? are you okay? you zoned out," chat asked concernedly, waving a hand in front of my face quickly. i snapped out of it and paid attention to him again. his green eyes were wide, searching me for anything amiss.
   "oh! yeah no, i'm fine! great! i got distracted for a minute, sorry. what were you saying?"
   he stared for a few more seconds before shrugging and restating what he was telling me earlier. "i was saying how i set up this roof for us to spend the rest of the day on. i'm sure you'll recognize the setting," he said, covering my eyes and lifting me onto said roof.
   "keep them closed until i say so! no peeking!"
   i obeyed him, giggling at his secrecy.
   "okay, open them now." i did as i was told and looked around, immediately recognizing the place. it was the place he'd brought me to the day andré the ice cream man had been akumatized. the day he'd shown me a side of him that, before then, i didn't even know existed. the day i found out he loved ladybug truly. something knotted in my heart, reminding me that he probably didn't even like ladybug (or me, for that matter) like that anymore. he'd moved on, just like i'd told him to. and it hurt more than i'd ever care to admit. maybe i'd do good taking a page from that book.
   still, the set up was gorgeous. he'd upped the game since the last time he brought me up here, and i blushed at the fact that he thought of doing all this for me. it made me feel like maybe he did harbor something towards me, marinette me, the way i did for him. which was absurd. of course he didn't.
   "do you like it?" he asked, more shyly than he'd probably intended. i turned to him.
   "are you kidding? i love it! this is beautiful!"
   he smiled widely, looking fully pleased at my answer. "im so glad you like it. it took me hours to figure out how to organize everything, and i had to redo and undo it so many times! let's sit?" he gestured towards the two red beanbag chairs pushed to the corner of the railing, with little rose petals scattered all around them.
    i debated giving him what i'd brought for him, but backed out at the last minute as he began to talk. maybe later.
   "the rose petals are a nice touch. though they do make you look like a hopeless romantic," i teased, bopping his nose with my finger. he grinned.
   "but you love that, don't you purr-incess?" he lilted teasingly. i looked away, feeling my cheeks redden once again.
   "hmm, i'd rather not say. don't need your ego blowing up much more, do we?"
   he gasped. "i cannot believe you would say such a thing! guess this means you don't deserve the gift i brought you..."
   my eyes widened. "you brought me a gift? chat-"
   "before you begin to complain about how i didn't need to bring you anything, i want to say that i wanted to bring you this. you also deserve a thank you for being so welcoming. sooo, i worked on this for you for a few weeks. i hope you're not so spoiled that it won't satisfy you," he ended quietly, trying to add a teasing tone but failing miserably with the look on his face. he pulled out a small, blue velvet jewelry box and handed it to me.
   inside was an adorable beaded necklace, with small charms and a heart-shaped locket in the center. it was clearly made by hand, and each charm depicted something i loved, my personal favorite being the sparkly needle and thread one. the charms sparkled in the bright daylight perfectly. part of it caught my eye though, and i froze as my hand landed on it.
   "chat, is this a ladybug?" i asked, trying to keep my voice from trembling too much. he laughed and scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly.
   "oh, yeah. i thought it represented you perfectly, since you're sort of like an everyday ladybug, you know? always putting others before you, always standing up for what's right.. you're super, marinette."
   i felt heat rush to my cheeks. the words sounded so familiar coming out of his mouth, so similar to something i'd heard before. it almost sounded like... like adrien, like what he'd said on heroes day. still, i felt my legs turn to jello as chat said them, and i was thankful he'd sat us on the beanbag chairs before handing the gift to me. chat, who knew ladybug better than anyone, who saw her at such a high regard, thought i was like her. he saw me in as good a light as he saw her. i mean, i AM her, but he doesn't know that.
   i almost cried as i opened the locket. it was the picture we'd taken the day my dad had tried to teach chat to bake chouquettes. it had ended in a huge food fight, and the chouquettes were never finished, but it was one of the most fun times we'd had. i threw myself onto him, hugging him with all my might.
   "kitty... this is one of the best gifts i've ever received. i love it so much. but these charms look expensive..."
   he laughed as i pulled away, enough to see his face but still not letting go of him.
   "don't worry. all the beads i strung myself. they weren't expensive. and, the charms... well, they are diamonds-" he smirked coyly as i made a face at him.
   "CHAT!!! i can't accept this then!!!! that's insane!"
   "hey! you didn't let me finish. they are made of diamonds, and the locket attachment is also custom made, but i didn't pay for them."
   my eyes widened. was he insane?? "you're kidding!! chat, don't tell me you-"
   "you really never let me get a word in edgewise! i didn't steal them. the jewelry store owners really like me since i saved their daughter a few months back, and they gave me one favor to cash in. so, naturally, i used this favor to have some custom made charms crafted for a necklace i planned to make for my best friend marinette, who shines bright like a diamond," he concluded, raising his eyebrows under the mask. i giggled. he put all this effort into making this necklace... for me.
   "well, thank you, kitty. it's beautiful. i'll never take it off! and, since i guessss now you've earned it, i can give you the gift i made for you."
   his eyes began to sparkle more than they already were. "marinette, you made me something? oh, you're the best!"
   "don't expect it to be half as fabulous as what you made, though," i said slightly apologetically as i pulled the charm out of my bag. he grunted.
   "if you made it, it's already guaranteed to be the best thing ever."
   i handed it to him, and, oh, were his eyes glassing over? he took the lucky charm in his hands and looked at it, practically caressing it with his eyes.
   "i figured... since ladybug always has her lucky charms during battle, why not make you one? that way, you can have good luck wherever you go. chat noir deserves a lucky charm too, right?"
   he grinned, looking every bit like a child on christmas day. "you even added a cat and bell on it! this is the best day ever. now i have ano- my very own marinette lucky charm! i'm sure nothing will ever go wrong in life from
now on. i'm never going to let it leave my sight. i've heard these are very effective," he winked. from who?
   i smiled before realizing i was still wrapped around him, straddled on his lap as i had been when i hugged him. my eyes widened and i quickly removed myself, hoping i didn't look as red as i felt.
chat didn't notice, still staring at the lucky charm in quiet amazement. i watched him as he marveled at the small beaded string. it wasn't much, but he was treating it like it was the most precious thing he'd ever seen.
i smiled at him. maybe i didn't have to get over him, not yet. after all, nothing could go wrong if i kept it to myself, right?

(a/n: nothing could go wrong now right?? right?? yeah !!!!! )