Breaking Free

9) Games

Chat Noir's POV
"Mari, we need to talk," Chat began. It had been almost 5 months since he had first started visiting his classmate, but lately their relationship seemed strained.

It's all my fault, he decided, if I hadn't kissed her... none of this would be happening.

Marinette sighed before responding, looking down and answering with a small voice. "Yeah, I think we do."

"What's going on?" Chat asked, desperate for his best friend, the girl he loved to come back into his life. "How did we let this happen?"

"I'm not sure."

He had decided weeks ago, no matter how much he loved Ladybug, there was something about Marinette that he couldn't get off his mind. The distance between them recently had been driving him crazy, and it was then he realized that she was his choice. She would always be his choice.

"Princess..."

She was quiet for a moment, her eyes downcast, until she finally let her bright blue stare meet his gaze.

"Don't call me that."

"W-what? What's going on?"

"I'm serious Chat, don't call me that."

"Come on, Mari! I can't do anything unless you tell me what's wrong!" He called out as she forced herself out of his hands and onto the chaise.

"It was so much easier when we would play fairytale." She admitted.

"What?"

"A few months ago, I was the princess, and you were her knight. But we both knew that at the end of the game, you were destined to find your 'damsel in distress'. I would get my Prince Charming, and everything would just end. Happily ever after."

Chat looked at her, confused, as she stood up and propped her fists against his chest. Tears stirred in her eyes as she leaned against him.

"But I don't want it to end. I don't want you to leave me, kitty. I don't want you to find your 'happily ever after'... because I want you to be mine. There's nothing I want more than to change the rules. I don't want Adrien to be my prince, I want you."

"I-is this what this has all been about? You were afraid that I'd leave you?"

"Of course, that's all it's ever been, Chat. It took me way to long to realize it, to come to terms with it, but I... I love you."

He gave a soft smile before placing his hand under her chin, carefully lifting it up.

"You know how I feel about Ladybug. You know how I've always felt about her. But... I started to move on. I realized that there was another girl, one who was kind, confident, caring, and beautiful. Every time we were together, it felt like I had found my second half. And I miss that. It's breaking me to not hold you the way I used to, to feel like everything we had just shattered. There's nothing I want more than to change the rules of our game, if it means I never have to let you go. I love you too, princess. I can call you that again, right?"

She gave a soft giggle, but before she could respond Chat had pulled her in closer and rested his lips on hers. She softly moaned before deepening the kiss, filling it with passion and want. He softly slid his tongue onto her lips, as if asking for entrance. She opened her mouth and obliged while simultaneously tangling her hand in his messy, golden hair.

After a few moments, they broke the kiss, both gasping for breath. However, Chat didn't let her go.

"Wait," he smiled as the realization hit him. "You said Adrien. Was your crush Adrien Agreste?" The blush on her face was all the confirmation he needed as he smirked and gave her a quick peck.

"So what I'm hearing is that I beat out model boy?" She laughed as he wrapped his arms around her, over the moon that all along, he had been the "secret crush".

"Always." She agreed, placing her head in the crook of his neck.

"Well in that case... Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you be my girlfriend?"

"I would love that."

The moment was broken by the sound of a door opening down below, and the echo of her parents' voices alarming them that they had arrived home.

"I think that's my cue to leave. Until tomorrow, princess." He kneeled down and gave her a kiss on the back of the hand, much like he did with Ladybug, before making his way onto the balcony.

Her smile and wave drove him crazy, knowing that it was all for him.

"See you tomorrow, my prince."

And with that, more excited than he had ever been, Chat jumped.