Miraculous Short Stories

Memories of Midnight

Late one night, a lonely Chat Noir finds himself seeking company on Marinette's balcony. Feelings are revealed and Marinette learns more about her Kitty than she expected to. A Marichat story.

Chat Noir sat perched on a concealed rooftop. The sun had just started to set on the horizon and the brilliant colours of golden orange and yellow streaked across the skyline. It was beautiful, but also a little melancholy, because it also reminded him of her.

Things had been strained between him and Ladybug for some time now. Ever since she had become the Guardian, there seemed to have been more secrets between them than ever before. Even their joint patrols, which he used to look so forward too, had become less frequent and over too soon. She was distracted and closed off, but whenever he tried to talk to her, she would just dismiss him like she always did. With Shadow Moth being less active over the summer break, she had scaled back their interactions to the bare minimum. He doesn't know what it was he did that made her want to avoid him, but it hurt more than he could say.

Things weren't much better for Adrien at home either. His father buried himself in his work and kept Adrien's schedule packed so that he had no time for seeing his friends. He had been invited to go to the movies that night with Alya, Nino and Marientte, but instead his father had scheduled him for an afternoon photoshoot with Lila of all people. To say the shoot had been painful would be an understatement.

Lila, as usual, couldn't keep her hands to herself, and when the akuma alert sounded, she wouldn't let him out of her sight to go and transform. By the time he could get away from her, the battle was all but over. At least the akuma forced the shoot to wrap up early and he could get away from her.

Watching the sun lower on the horizon, the warm summer breeze flitted through his blond hair and his chartreuse eyes turned up to the sky above. Yes, he missed Ladybug, but he had also begun to question how he felt about her. He'd had her on such a high pedestal for so long, and he still respected her, but she had become elusive. He trusted her judgement in battle, he trusted her to bring him back when he sacrificed himself to protect her, but he wasn't sure he trusted her with his heart. Not anymore, not while she kept him in the dark.

He leaned against the railing, remembering the night he had stood on this same rooftop, asking her to accept his love. She had turned him down gently, saying she loved another. He wondered now if that had even been true, or had she just been saying that to fob him off and keep him at arm's length. It hardly mattered now. She didn't love him, and maybe she never would.

He let out a heavy sigh into the darkening sky. It was becoming a bit of a bad habit staying out until late into the night, then living on only a few hours of sleep. His stylist had already had a go at him for the bags under his eyes and it was all Adrien could do to beg her not to tell his father as the concealer was applied. Even Marinette had noticed at school and asked him if he was okay. He smiled at the memory when she passed him her coffee, insisting he needed it more then she did and he felt a flutter in his chest at the thought of her and her sweet smile.

Speaking of Marinette, Chat turned his head towards where her parents bakery was. He could just make out that the fairy lights she had strung out on her little balcony were still on. Maybe she was still up? He looked at the time on his cat phone. The movie would have finished ages ago, and he was pretty sure Marinette wouldn't want to be a third wheel with Alya and Nino after the movie. He knew exactly how uncomfortable that could be, although he would never admit out loud that a little bit of jealousy on his part was in the mix.

Chat tried not to make a habit out of visiting Marinette too often. Deep down he knew it wasn't safe for her to have a superhero on her balcony, and Ladybug probably wouldn't like it either, but getting away from his father to see her as Adrien was almost impossible most of the time. He couldn't explain it really, but there was something about her presence. More than that though, Chat felt inexplicably drawn to Marinette. She was someone he could talk to, on both sides of the mask, and his friendship with her had only grown over time, and he had to admit his feelings for her also. Plagg had teased him enough times about his feelings for the girl that sat behind him in class, and it was getting more difficult for Adrien to still call her just a friend, because she was starting to become so much more than that to him.