How Do I Tell You I Love You? A LadyNoir fic

Is This Love?

Marinette POV

Cat Noir scooped me up into his arms and walked out of the workshop. He gently leaped onto a nearby rooftop and tried to set me down. 

"Wait. Can we just stay like this? Just for a little longer?" I asked and wrapped my arms tightly around his waist.

"Of course. Did she hurt you?" His hand cupped my cheek. I couldn't help it. I laughed.

"Aside from knocking me out? No, I'm fine. But," I held his hand against my face. "I'm even better now that you're here."

"Ladybug, I'm serious. What happened in there? What did she say to you?" That broke the spell. I suddenly remembered what I did. I remembered how willing I was to give up Cat Noir for my own identity. I stood up.

"Did she do anything to you? Please tell me what's wrong."

"I'm what's wrong! I'm the reason we can't know each other's identities. It's because I'm weak, and someone could hurt you. I couldn't live with myself if you got hurt because of me!" Sobs escaped my throat as I crumpled to the floor.

"Hey, hey hey!" He rushed over and knelt down to put his hands on my shoulders. "Where did this come from? What happened?" So I told him. In between sobs I told him how I woke up and how she wanted to get his identity from me. But the worst part was looking into his eyes, so full of understanding, and telling him that, push comes to shove, I would give up his identity to save my own skin.

"So that's what I did and why you deserve someone better than me." 

"I would take a bullet for you Ladybug. Heck, I'm fairly sure I've taken a couple. Even if you did give up my identity I would know you had a good reason." That took me aback.

"Why are you like this?" I hit his chest. "Why are you so willing to put yourself in danger for me?" He held my face in his hands. "Because Bugaboo," He brushed his thumb across my cheek, wiping away my tears. "I love you."

I stood up again. "No. you don't. You love the idealized perfect Ladybug side of me. You don't know me underneath the mask, and if you knew, I doubt you would feel the same way." Cat Noir stood up and followed me. "I disagree." His hand found mine on the railing. "I've been your partner for a long time. I've seen the many mistakes you've made." He lifted my chin to meet my eyes. "M'lady isn't perfect, but I never expected you to be. I was there when you were klutzy and stammering on your first day as Ladybug. You made plenty mistakes, but that was the day I fell for you." 

I looked away, but he cupped my chin and brought my eyes back to meet his. "I love you because you're headstrong and confident. The suit changes nothing. I love you, with or without the mask. I don't love an imaginary version of you. I love the beautiful, and beautifully flawed girl standing in front of me." I could feel the blood rush to my face. 

"I-I" All I could do was stammer. Cat Noir's words changed something in me. It felt like my heart had shifted slightly to the left. All I could do was stare into his deep eyes. "I um, I-I think you're a really great f-friend and partner." He smiled sweetly and walked away before spinning back and bowing, stretching out his hand to grab mine. "Are you ready to finish the fight we started?"

"I dunno. We lost her and my kwami is probably exhausted and hungry. Let's detransform and wait for her to start trouble."

"Well then, I will see you the next time trouble arises." He winked at me and extended to staff to shoot off in the direction of the school. I waved my fingers goodbye at him.

~~~~~~~~~~

 I jumped off the roof and found an abandoned alleyway. "Spots Off!" Tikki floated up to meet my eyes. I put my hand to my chest feeling my heart pound and my breath quicken. 

"Oh my gosh! Marinette! Are you okay? Do you have a concussion? Do you need to see a doctor?" I waved away her worry. 

"I'm okay. I swear. I can't even feel it."

"Can you read that sign over there?"

"Yes, Tikki. That's a museum." She sighed in relief.

"Okay. That's good. Now that that's out of the way, what was that talk with Cat Noir?!" I groaned. I knew this talk was coming, but I wanted to ride that high for a little longer.

"I already knew how he felt about me. What he said doesn't change anything."

"You and I both know that's not true. You're blushing!"

"Anyone would blush after hearing that! " Yeah, I thought, that's it. I'm just flustered from such and intense confession.

"Fine. If you don't want to talk about your feelings with me, you should at least talk to someone. I think you need to sort things out with your feelings so you can either cut him loose and let him move on, or you can get together and make the cutest couple on the planet."

"Tikki!"

"I'm sorry! You know I want you two to get together." 

"Come on Tikki!" I paused. "But maybe you're right. I have a lot of complicated feelings right now, and I think it's a good idea to talk it out with someone."

"Are you going to talk to Alya about this?" That made me laugh.

"Are you kidding? After what I said to her today about how I'm content with my relationship? She's gonna think I don't like Adrien anymore." Tikki gabe me a sceptic look. "Knock it off. I do like Adrien."

"Then if you're not going to talk to me or Alya, then who are you going to talk to?" I thought to myself, then smiled. I pulled out my phone and sent out a message: "Hey Luka. Wanna meet up and chat?"