The Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir

Perfect isn't me-

"Of course I love you! You're perfect!" The green eyes filled with honest disbelief and outrage that she would even suggest that he didn't really love her hit her hard. She loved those green eyes. But he loved the mask.

"What's my favourite colour?"

"Red."

Minus one point. Oh Chat, I am only trying to help you. "What's my favourite Disney character?"

"Mulan."

Don't wince, don't wince, don't wince. "Biggest fear?"

"You fear nothing, milady!" God damn it Adrien, you aren't making this easy for me. 

That proud smile broke her heart into a million pieces. "Umh... I supposed technically my favourite colour is red? I mean, pink's a shade of red, so I guess..." The smile faltered. If she thought her heart was broken before, it must be disintegrated now. "And, you must have guessed that, because I'm kinda like Mulan that I like her most, but... it's actually... Ursula from The Little Mermaid- which is ironic and stupid because she's the villain and I'm the hero but her song was just awesome and she was evil and dramatic and amazing and..." His mouth tugged downwards into a frown. She visibly winced, feeling like the ashes of her heart were being burned again. "And... I'm terrified of messing up... of, of losing the people I love, of spiders too because who isn't afraid of spiders, and mice because of where I grew up and of... of disappointing everyone, disappointing you, because..." 

But the expression that slipped on his face then made the remains of her heart feel like they were being torn apart, atom by atom, protons and neutrons and electrons thrown around and colliding and exploding in the chaos. 

"Because... you love this perfect image of a girl, and I'm... not... her..." She trailed off, crumpling as he stood so stiff that the slightest breeze could knock him over. "I'm not perfect. I'm clumsy and I'm quirky and I take control was too often, but when I'm Ladybug that just means I get a handle of the situation quicker but as me I'm just bossy. I'm also very stubborn, I freak out very easily, I'm really bad at physics which is kinda weird because I'm good at chemistry and biology, but I really suck at maths. I also... kind of... used to obsess? Over a guy? Which got to the point where is bordering on stalking, who am I kidding, it was stalking, but not anymore once I realised it was so bad so I sucked it up and tried to be his friend so that's better. I'm actually really bad at every sport except gymnastics, I'm a terrible cook and I always sleep in, it's practically a miracle if I wake up on time. I also tend to defend myself and others way too much, even by going so far as to attack someone else, which is not fair, and I also ramble when I'm nervous, which you can tell by now, and when I'm really nervous I start stuttering and it all goes wrong and I-"

She cut off, taking a ragged breath, desperately trying to ignore the way he was swaying as if he'd been punched. 

"I'm not perfect, and you only see perfect when you look at me, and that's why I don't- why I can't-" Abruptly realising that tears were pricking at her eyes, she cleared her throat and wiped her eyes. "I can't believe you'd love me, because you love the perfect girl, and I know you well enough that I've guessed who you are and I'm fairly certain I'm right and I know you don't know me because you still don't know me." Ladybug, aka Marinette Dupain-Cheng finished, shaky and twisting her hands together and nervously flicking her eyes towards him.

Almost robotically, he asked her the same questions she asked him. "What's my favourite colour?"

"When I first met you I thought it was green, but it's actually blue, because of a scarf your father gave you and a really... poetic reason I feel like I shouldn't know so I won't repeat it."

"My favourite Disney character?"

"Trick question, you're a Dreamworks kind of person."

"My biggest fear?"

"Being alone again."

He sharply met her gaze, green eyes that once sparkled like sunlight now blazing like a solar flare reaching out towards her. "Please, elaborate."

"Um..." She hesitated, uncertain. "You... your mother disappeared a few years ago, four is what you... For the longest time, you've been h-home-schooled and you've only ever had one friend until you started school last year, and your father neglects you and treats you like an employee and you don't deserve to have a family like that because you do so much for him and he doesn't appreciate you enough and sometimes I wish our lives could be switched so you'd have the loving family that I've had..." She cleared her throat again, clearly believing she'd said too much. "And... because of your... because of Chloe, nobody really tries to be your friend because anyone who gets even remotely close to you is immediately turned away by her and that's why I dropped the act and decided to try because... if he thinks I'm perfect I might as well try to be..." She ended weakly, shrugging her shoulders and letting her eyes drift off to the shingles of the rooftops. 

"I guess, after all this time, I don't know you as well as I thought I did, milady."

(bet you guys thought i was gonna go all angst on y'all)

She glanced up in astonishment, hearing the flirty and confident tone in his voice once more. She could've laughed when she saw the brightness in his eyes and the smirk on his lips if she weren't so shocked. "Adr- Chat?"

"Guess I'll have to change that, huh, Princess?" He teased lightly, the ever present cheerful undertone back in his voice. 

(WELL GUESS WHAT)

Ladybug shook out of her stupor and grinned. "You better! Do you know how long I've had a crush on you?" Ladybug used flirt!

"I-uh-wh-what?" The blush on his face, while half obscured by the mask, was extremely apparent. It's super effective!

"Better get started soon, huh-" She started towards him, swinging her yoyo and a smirk that rivaled his previous one on her face. "-pretty boy?"

No. Perfect was not a word to describe Marinette, as Adrien came to realise, with and without her mask. But he was learning. 

And that was what mattered. We're constantly learning, growing. Nothing is ever quite the way you think it is, and once you accept that, the world becomes a whole lot brighter because, if something or someone isn't who you thought they were, if you're always learning something new about them, then... you don't have to be a constant either. You can run one day and walk the next, love a type of food then vow to never let it near your mouth again, you can change and you'll know that the people who don't accept that also don't truly care about you. 

Adrien used to believe that love was a constant. It was unshakable, an infinite feeling that stretched for as long as your life. But that wasn't true. Love changes. It grows and shrinks, it strengthens and weakens, sometimes you can climb completely out of it or you can fall deeper than ever before. It fluctuates like a heartbeat, slowing and speeding and rising and falling, and that's okay. Because while love might not be constant, one thing that is constant about it is that somewhere, for someone or something, it's always there. No matter what.

okay i kinda went really deep and sentimental there but i'm smiling like an idiot because you know what? i'm so glad that i've chosen to write this book, because it's a way of sorts that i can open up about myself, my beliefs, and people love it all the more because i do. because it's real. so, thank you. 

also thanks for 6K votes and 2K comments omg if only my cringe-worthy 12 year old self could see me now

she'd probably think i would NEVER be as obsessed with cartoons as i am

too bad sucka

peace out