MariChat: Chat Out Of The Bag

Torn Between Two

Her accursed heartbeat refused to allow Marinette more than an hour and a half's worth of sleep. Throughout the entire night for the past year, she would hold onto a pillow and hug it tightly, and imagine herself being held by Adrien. This warm image always helped her drift off to sleep, always with a smile on her face.

She tried to do the same thing the previous night, but, not of her own accord, she kept reliving the moment when she kissed Chat Noir.

Echoing and echoing throughout her memories, Marinette had been unable to sleep, her face burning up in embarrassment. She still couldn't quite believe she'd done that. Her impulses had made her do it, compelled by reasons she would never comprehend.

Holding onto her pillow even tighter, she buried her head in it and kicked her legs randomly underneath her sheers. "Nooooooooo..."

Regardless of how much she wanted to regret it, to hate it, she couldn't bring herself to, and it was starting to annoy her. It was her own fault, she knew that, but still, she was so... She didn't even know what at this point. She was a combination of anger and excitement, weirdly. She couldn't even start to describe it.

There had been such a rush when she did it. A rush of adrenaline and dopamine that gave her energy, and dulled her usually nervous and shy personality. It had just been her and Chat. And she couldn't deny it.

She liked it.

And that made everything worse.

Was she betraying Adrien by kissing Chat? She felt like she had betrayed her year-long crush, and it made her feel sickeningly disloyal. But the two of them - To Marinette's displeasure - Were not dating as such, so, she could file the kiss under 'Before Adrien', right? That was an easy solution to this complicated problem.

So why did it feel like she'd be lying?

Arriving at the steps to the school, Marinette struggled to even keep her eyes open. The lack of sleep, the warmth of spring, the walk it took to get here, she was certain that she'd pass out before she even got to the doors of the school. She was totally exhausted, there really was no other word for it.

"Marinette!" Her ears picked up when she heard her name being called, and her head turned to see her best friend, Alya, walking towards her with a wave and her usual smile. Normally Marinette would run up and hug her as their usual morning greeting, whenever she wasn't late.

She lacked the energy to do that today, so instead, she put on a smile, and offered a wave. "Morning, Alya."

"Girl, you look completely worn-out. Are you okay?" Her friend asked, inspecting Marinette's face, noticing the fatigue on her face as it was. In a moment, a sly smirk appeared on her face, and Marinette already knew exactly what Alya was going to say. "Was -"

"No, Adrien was not involved." The blunette girl shot down her tan-skinned friend rapidly, her face dark red at the mere insinuation. It had been someone else who had been involved though, her thoughts reminded her. "J-Just... Not enough sleep."

"You don't seem to get s lot of sleep these days." Alya commented, with a look on her face like she was trying to deduce Marinette's double life. Of course, Alya was a reporter at heart, and she had been trying to figure out who Ladybug and Chat Noir were ever since they showed up on the scene. She wasn't pushy, like some were, because she still respected the duo of Paris. Some people tried to grab the two of them and pry their masks off in the early days, which had come to no avail. Alya hadn't. She was a huge fan of both of them, and wanted them to reveal their identities to her when they were ready. But that didn't stop her from making theories, and sometimes, even claims.