maricat love story

Part 23 - Revelations

"Wh-what did you say?" She barely managed to get out, staring at the blush spreading across his face under his mask.

"I love you. I've been falling in love with you for weeks and I feel like I'm about to explode." Chat Noir said desperately, trying to make her understand. "I've been in love with Ladybug for so long, I've been fighting back how I felt about you. I thought I couldn't possibly love you the way I loved her. I couldn't be in love with two people, it was wrong. I tried," he said on the verge of tears, "to stop feeling this way about you. I have m'lady, and she is amazing and courageous and makes me feel like I can do anything as long as I'm with her."

He placed his hands on her shocked face, staring into her eyes, "And then you," he nearly whispered, "You have this heart that is strong and selfless. You are talented and creative, and seeing you smile makes my heart kick against my chest. I hear you laugh and my entire world is consumed by your joy. I miss you when you aren't around, and I can't get you out of my head."

He let her go and stepped back, seeing her expressionless face, "I'm an awful person I know. My heart belongs to Ladybug, but you have so much of it already I don't even know how true that is anymore." He ran his hands frustratingly through his hair with a groan, "I'm such an idiot. I shouldn't have said anything, you probably hate me now. What kind of hero am I? It was stupid to put myself in this situation. I know I shouldn't get close to you, it is a mistake that could come back to hurt us both."

"Chat," Marinette tried, watching as he put his head against the balcony rail.

"And I would never want that to happen. If you were to get hurt because of me, I'd never forgive myself. I wouldn't be able to walk into school everyday and not see you."

"Chat stop," she warned, her voice barely a whisper in her shock at hearing this seeming to spill out as though a dam had broken inside of him. If she didn't get herself together, and stop him before it was too late, she was going to learn more tonight than she knew was safe.

"Seeing your empty seat would haunt me. It would be a loud, constant presence at my back torturing me until I broke." He said heavily, his panic bypassing every rational thought about trying to keep his identity hidden, about trying to keep his feelings from her. He couldn't do it anymore. He couldn't live another second in this state of constant turmoil.

"And then I figured it out, the thing that I had thought was impossible. I thought you hated me," he shook his head quickly, "not hate. I swear the only person you could possibly really hate is Lila - for good reason. Maybe tolerate would be a better word, but I've always considered you a friend, one of the greatest, best friends I could ever have the luck of having."

He put both of his hands to the back of his neck, groaning as he turned his back to her and stared up at the sky, "But I was wrong! I was so, so wrong! And it's all Father's fault!"

That caught her a little off guard, "Your Father?"

"He was looking over some work at dinner, and I happened to be wearing my favorite scarf that I thought he'd made for me. When he asked to see it, he was surprised by how well it was done. I asked him how he could be surprised by something he made, and he looked at me like I had lost my mind. He told me without batting an eye that he hadn't made it, but that he'd like to meet whoever had made it because they had a good eye for craftsmanship."

He started sounding upset, "I didn't know what to think. All this time I thought he'd made it for me for my birthday, and when he denied it again when I told him that, he showed me the embroidered letters hidden on one of the ends. M.D.C."

He scoffed, "The letters were barely a shade lighter, and I had never picked them out before. His freakish designer's eyes caught them instantly and after he gave it back, I literally sat in my room and stared at the letters with tears in my eyes until it dawned on me."