The response to yesterday’s drabble was overwhelmingly positive, and there was a general clamor for more. So here, have a short, sweet follow-up drabble! Hopefully, this is a better conclusion than the last one. :)
Marinette stopped her sewing machine curiously, and waited.
There. The quiet tapping resumed, drawing her attention up to her skylight.
She shut her machine off entirely and climbed up to the loft, worrying her lower lip with her teeth as her mind raced. She known that he’d be back, she just didn’t know when. Now that he was here, she didn’t know what she’d say. Apologize for freaking out? For sticking her nose into his business? For lying to him?
She released her now-tender lip with a sigh, and peered up into glowing green eyes. He waved, his hand inky black against the dark sky, and she waved him in. His eyes crinkled with a smile she couldn’t see. She didn’t wait for him; she knew he’d follow her down, so she climbed down from the loft as he lifted the door and dropped through into her room.
“Hello, Princess,” he said, perched on the side of her bed with his legs hanging over the side. He was smiling, but she could tell that it was forced. “I wasn’t sure you’d even let me in.”
He wasn’t sure of his welcome here, she realized. “Of course I let you in. You’re always welcome here.”
He relaxed a bit, but he still looked uncertain. “Even after…last time?”
She sank onto her chaise with a sigh, and shook her head. “What happened last time—that was my fault. I should never have been so nosy about your personal life, and I should not have lied to you. I’m sorry.”
In response, he leapt lightly down from her bed, caught the back of her desk chair, and wheeled it over so that it was right in front of her. He sat, and tilted her chin up with a crooked finger. “I do accept your apology, but it wasn’t all you. I baited you, and then I pushed you to give answers you didn’t want to give. I’m sorry, Marinette.”
Marinette summoned a small smile. “It’s alright, Chat.” His hand fell from her chin, and his smile turned more genuine. She cleared her throat. “Amelie came clean, a few days ago.”
“Did she, now?” Chat sat back in the chair, and examined the claws on one hand. “That’s good.”
“Mm-hmm. Actually, she confessed to the whole class. It was quite a turn-around.” Marinette crossed her arms, and attempted to appear stern. “You didn’t happen to talk to her about all of this, did you?”
He shifted his attention to his other hand. “I might have taken her aside, and asked her to kindly set the record straight.” He met her gaze then, and grinned unrepentantly. “After all, I can’t have my lady thinking me some kind of tomcat with an unfaithful heart.”
Marinette chuckled, and hoped that he wouldn’t notice her blush. “I doubt very seriously that she ever thought anything of the sort, Chaton.”
Unfortunately for Marinette, he did see the blush—and he caught her accidental use of Ladybug’s nickname for him.
Chat tucked the revelation away for the time being, knowing that he’d have an opportunity to take it out and lose his mind over it, later. For now, he was perfectly happy to enjoy this strange, budding friendship with Marinette as well as whatever time he was able to spend with Ladybug.
She would tell him when she was ready.
Chat Noir smiled again, and this time, it was entirely genuine.
