Stay by my Side

Stay by my Side - Chapter Twenty

"Marinette, please, come out."

Chat Noir's voice called to her from her balcony. He hadn't shown up since she asked him not to a while ago, and yet here he stood now. She had a feeling Adrien had something to do with this.

"Tikki, please stay here." She didn't want Tikki to know. She didn't want anyone to know.

She didn't want them to know she was broken.

She exited her bedroom and headed out onto her small balcony. Chat Noir was leaning by the balcony railing, a worried expression on his face. So he did know.

"You know." She simply stated, trying to maintain her calm expression. Multiple emotions raced through her at once - betrayal at how Adrien could tell anyone, sadness as since Chat Noir is a superhero, he'd probably go tell her parents, anger that her secret is now out and fear that everything would now get worse. She began to shake. "I can't believe Adrien told you."

"No, Marinette, it's not what you-"

"Then what is it?" Marinette was so tired of everything. She was tired of the betrayal, of the lying, of the suffering. She didn't want to hear excuses anymore. She just wanted the truth. She's always just wanted the truth.

Chat Noir sighed and turned away from her. "I want to tell you more than you want to know. But the answer - the truth - that I would give you is one you've told me multiple times not to tell." His mind drifted to Ladybug for a moment. "A secret that I've been told by multiple people not to tell."

Marinette's hands clasped around her mouth in shock, having figured out what Chat Noir meant. "You... you mean your identity? Do you..." She brought her voice down to a whisper. "Do you know Adrien Agreste?"

Chat Noir almost laughed. "Sort of." He replied vaguely, slightly confusing Marinette. Marinette shook her head - if Chat Noir's civilian identity and Adrien were close, then maybe Adrien didn't have much choice in telling them about what he saw. A small piece of stress lifted from her shoulders at the idea.

"So... since you've been honest with me, I should probably be honest with you." Marinette replied, her stress returning. "But promise me, you won't tell anyone, and you won't confront anyone either."

"C - confront anyone?" Chat Noir gave Marinette a confused glance, but she stayed silent, needing the promise before she explained further. "Alright, I promise."

Marinette sighed in relief, pressing her hand against her chest. "Okay. Also, come inside, I don't want anyone to know you're here this time." She grabbed Chat Noir's wrist and dragged him inside before anyone from her class saw him and somehow told Lila about it. She didn't need her situation at school to become any worse.

Once inside, Marinette felt a tired wave fly over her. She quickly explained what Chat Noir - as Adrien - already knew: that Lila was still bullying her, and that she told Marinette to never see Chat Noir again, which is why she asked Chat Noir to leave her alone.

As Marinette went on, detailing everything Lila had done to her, Chat Noir began to gradually feel sicker. He felt like throwing up - how could Lila do something like that to her? He knew she was bad - but any shred of care he still had for her vanished as Marinette told her story.

He wobbled on his feet as he stood, Marinette running out of things to tell him, aside from her self-harming - again not wanting Tikki to know. Chat Noir tried to steer the topic over to it a couple times, but eventually stopped, getting the message when Marinette interrupted him and changed the subject back.

"Thank you for telling me this, Marinette."

Marinette yawned. "Of course, I decided not to keep any lies from you anymore." She rubbed her eyes sleepily. "Are you gonna go home now? You can't really stay, I don't want anyone to catch us here, or things could be worse for me at school. Oh!" She turned back to Chat Noir, slightly more awake. "Don't talk to Lila about this - you promised me you wouldn't."

Chat Noir paused, before sighing. "Yeah. I know. Fine Princess, you have my word I won't say anything."

Marinette sighed in relief once again, and accompanied Chat Noir to her balcony, deciding it was the least she could do, knowing they wouldn't see each other in person again for a while. "Thanks, kitty." She walked closer to him and wrapped him in a warm hug. "Have a safe trip home."

"I - I can still text you, right?" Chat Noir said, hugging her back.

Marinette nodded. "Of course, kitty." She let go of him and stood a small distance away. "I guess... I'll see you later."

"Bye, Princess." Chat Noir said with a smile, jumping away. Marinette watched until she could no longer see him in her sights, and then headed back in her room to sleep.

---

"Is that... Marinette with Chat Noir?" Alya asked Nino, as they were walking home. They had passed by Marinette's bakery while walking home, and glancing up, Alya caught sight of Marinette and Chat Noir on the balcony, hugging. "I don't believe it... I didn't realise she was best friends with a superhero!"

Nino quickly took out his phone and snapped a couple of pictures.

"Nino! What are you doing?" Alya whispered to him, not wanting Marinette's moment with Chat Noir to be ruined.

"Obviously I'm going to send it to our class chat. It's clear that this is why Marinette's no longer hanging out with us - she clearly thinks her time is better spent with more famous people."

"You idiot, that's not true! She hangs out with Nathanial, and Marc, and give me that phone!"

Alya wrestled with Nino for a few moments, trying to stop him from sending the images to their class chat - the one that Marinette had been kicked out of - but her efforts were in vain. With a sly grin and smile, Nino pressed 'send', and Alya watched in horror, as everyone, including Lila, started to find it.

Hi guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know Nino is slightly out of character, but everyone besides Adrien, Alya, Nathanial and Marc have been warped by Lila's lies, and they're having trouble perceiving Marinette as someone kind right now, so give them a bit of slack please.

Anyways, next chapter should be Lila's response to the images. Look forward to it!!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊