Miraculous Ladybug One Shots

MariChat - The Mask Does Not Define Us

Marinette was sitting on her pink bed while she watched Chat sit down beside her. He was - of course - talking about what adventures he and Ladybug had gotten into today. He kept telling me how amazing she is. 

"She's absolutely wonderful, Princess," he said, giving out a dreamy sigh. "She makes this cat have butterflies."

I flinched a little. I had grown to like Chat throughout the past few months. I probably like him more than I should. While Chat continued fantasizing, I felt my eyes get heavy with hot tears. You are not going to cry, I told myself. You can't cry over a boy.

Too late. Tears were already beginning to slip clumsily from my sparkling eyes. "Princess, what's wrong?" I heard Chat say, not daring to look him in the eye.

I didn't want to bring Chat down, but apparently I have to now. "She-" I choked.

"I didn't mean to make you cry, Princess," Chat said, frowning deeply.

Before even thinking about the consequences, I blurted out in an angry tone, "She doesn't deserve your feelings!"

Chat flinched at my suddenly loud tone, but his ears were straight up, urging me on.

Another stream of tears fell from my eyes as I watched his reaction. In a more bitter and muffled voice, I began to speak again, "She's clumsy. She's insecure. She can't do anything right."

Each sentence kept getting more and more hard to say. All the words were choking me. I didn't know how to get them out.

Chat's worried face slowly morphed into serious yet slightly irritated one as I continued my ranting. "How could you say that about her?" He said in a hard tone. "I won't let you-"

I cut him off once more, frightened yet angry at how he had defended my perfect side instead of my real self. "Because I know who's under the mask!" I blurted out, shouting. Suddenly realizing what I had said, I cupped my hand over my mouth and began to cry once more.

"She's not like that," Chat murmured which made me flared up. He's completely missing everything!

"She's the complete opposite of what you think," I growled in warning. "Why can't you just understand that?"

"Because the mask doesn't define who we are, Marinette," Chat snapped back.

No Mari.

No Princess.

Just Marinette.

"Define who we are? The mask controls me," I lowered my voice, feeling completely defeated.

I didn't care if he found out. I didn't care about anything anymore. All I wanted was a friend.

Chat's eyes widened and he whispered. "Ladybug?"

I sighed - well, it was more like a sob. I gathered up all my courage and looked Chat straight in the face for the first time since the fight had begun.

"Yes, Kitty?"