"the moth's apprentice" chat noir x y/n

The End at the Beginning

Adrien's POV 

Rain dripped miserably from the rooftops. It splashed into gutters, spinning blustery wet gusts into the Paris air.

It was like the sky was crying.

The sky certainly had good reason to.

I knew she would come to our spot. No matter how cruel life was, it always provided a constant. Her. And the constant was often her hatred, but there was always something waiting — growing under the surface. 

I waited for her atop the Eiffel Tower, sensing her arrival before I could even hear the sounds of her wings fluttering in the darkness. Her feet hitting the ground. 

She was my enemy — but here, at 2am, we could almost pretend it didn't have to end that way. Of course, it did, there was no denying that, but sometimes I dreamed things were different. 

"I didn't think you'd come tonight," I said, concealing a smile, as the lie slipped through my teeth. "I thought you'd be grooming your feathers alone. You know, to take the sting out of my latest victory." 

I faced away from her, looking out at the city I was meant to save. Behind me, the girl I was saving it from. 

I heard her footsteps cease for a moment, so I turned around to look at her. 

God, she was so beautiful. 

And yet, we were on opposite sides of the chess board. She only looked at me, something deep and hurt in her expression, covered and fortified by layers of pretense — her mask reached deeper than her skin. 

"You know, one of these days, someone is going to snatch your pretty little wing, and then—" 

"Would you shut up?" She snapped, moving closer to me. "You meow too much, but without value." As she approached, her gaze softened. "It's why I like you better with your mouth shut." 

"Awe," I said quietly, sliding my arm around her waist. "Well, aren't you adorable? This is why you're the stupid villain and I'm the esteemed superhero." 

"Never call me that again." 

Water dripped down my face. I couldn't look away. I could never look away from her. 

"Ah, so it's validation you need," I said mockingly, sinking to my knees. On my knees, always for her. "Oh my god, you're amazing, Raven. So strong and—"

She held my face for a moment. "This is a view I could get used to."

I stood in one flush movement, pressing her back against the railing. "Don't be foolish," I said, distantly. 

"This isn't very hero like of you." My knee slid in between her legs, hands on either side of the railing.

"You know your place, Raven." I leaned close to her ear, anger getting the better of me. "Unfortunate. You'd be worth so much more if you weren't filth like Hawkmoth." I tilted her head towards me. "What a fucking shame."

When we kissed, every bad thing I'd ever thought melted away. The anger, the sadness, the festering worry — gone. All gone. 

To think, this was the girl I was meant to hate. I couldn't imagine coming close to hating her, but the fear of losing her caused such a  guttural reaction that the words falling from my mouth perpetuated the opposite emotion. 

I knew it wouldn't end well. 

But I did it anyway. 

I did it anyway, knowing that any feelings I might have for her would eventually destroy me, or her, or the both of us, simultaneously. 

I didn't have the willpower to stop it, even if I wanted to. 

"This," I told her as rain beat the ground around us. "This and nothing more." 

Those words, this place, all that we were — it was always more. 

"Nothing more," she answered. 

Somehow, some way, I let her slip away from me. Perhaps it was those words. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps we were never made for each other at all. 

Some part of me knows, and will always know. 

I should have held on tighter.