Prepare for trouble and make it double! ~

AU by @zoe-oneesama

Part 1

———————

39 missed calls

47 unread messages

30 unheard voicemails

———————

“Honey, you need to eat something.” Her mother’s gentle voice pleaded the next morning. Marinette sniffled and hugged her pillow.

“Please... just leave me alone...” she whispered, tears leaking onto her mattress. Sabine sighed and kissed her daughter’s cheek.

“We’ll be down in the bakery if you need us.” she said, climbing down the ladder.

———————

Adrien sat on his bed, feeling miserable. 

Every call went to voicemail.

Every message was left unsent.

If he could just explain himself, learn what he was doing wrong, then he could make things better, somehow.

Maybe she just needed some space?

Adrien rolled over on his side and hugged his too-soft pillow. Despite every thought in his head shouting louder and louder, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

He was Cat Noir, sitting on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin.

Marigold was sitting beside him with her head on his shoulder as their feet dangled above the water.

“Everything feels so perfect right now.” he mused.

“Yeah... it does.” Marigold murmured back, smiling.

“Then... why did you do it?”

“What do you mean?”

“If things were so perfect, then why did you end it?”

“Adrien... I wasn’t the one who ended things.”

He looked into her eyes and everything went black. He heard a sinister, yet familiar, laugh.

Adrien woke up with a start.

I wasn’t the one who ended things.

He sat up in bed and looked at his bedside table, where his phone was charging. He had the sudden urge to call Marinette one more time.

Why? He wasn’t sure. Maybe it was because of the dream, maybe it was because he just wanted to hear her voice again.

Unable to take it anymore, he unplugged his phone and dialed Marinette’s number.

He pressed call.

And regretted it instantly.

What in the name of Plagg what he thinking? She had to be asleep at this hour! What’s more, she’d probably blocked his-

“Hello?”

———————

Marinette wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing. It was like some external force had made her pick up her phone and answer the call.

The call for her prince.

“Marinette?”

Oh, god, he sounded so heartbroken. It took every nerve in her body to swallow the lump in her throat.

“I-yeah, it me. I-I mean, it’s Marinette.” she stuttered. Then she glanced at the clock on her shelf. 3:20 pm.

“What are you doing calling me at this hour?” she asked. Adrien chuckled gravely over the phone.

“What are you doing answering the phone at this hour?” Marinette giggled despite herself.

“Touché.” Marinette realized she was blushing and forced herself to regain her composure. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Neither did you.”

“I asked you first.”

“I asked you second.”

“You called.”

“You answered.”

Marinette huffed.

“I can do this all night.”

“So can I.”

Marinette could hear the shit-eating grin in his voice.

“Adrien...”

“Marinette...”

“Please answer my question.” She pleaded. “Why are you calling me at 3 in the morning?”

Adrien went silent on the other end.

“I don’t know.” He said, finally. “I guess... I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

Marinette sat up in her bed.

“Really? Why?”

“Well... I guess a lot of things weren’t sitting right with me.”

“What kind of things?”

“Marinette...” Adrien paused, as if contemplating what to say next. “...Was your decision to break up with me entirely your own?”

Marinette yelped quietly, nearly dropping her phone.

“W-why do you ask?” She stuttered nervously. Adrien heaved a sigh on the other end.

“Marinette, I’m not an idiot. Even if there was a problem with our relationship, which I’m pretty sure there wasn’t, you would have told me. Your decision to end it came out of nowhere. What happened?”

“I-I...” Marinette couldn’t bring herself to say anything, it was as if her tongue had turned to sandpaper.

“Marinette...” she could hear the pain in his voice. “Please, tell me why. I don’t want you to be alone in this. You said that we would always have each other, remember?” Marinette sniffled and wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

“Y-yeah. Always and forever, huh?” 

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic right now, but I’m gonna let it slide.” Adrien muttered darkly. “Okay, fine. If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to, but don’t not do it because you feel like you have no other way.”

Marinette fell silent again.

“Marinette?”

“I-I’ll see you on Monday, Adrien...”

“Oh, okay. I-”

“Goodbye.”

She hung up and put her phone on her shelf.

It was a long time before she fell asleep again.

———————

Adrien lay down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

He wasn’t sure if he felt more or less heartbroken than he did before he called Marinette last night.

Before he could decide, however, he heard a knock on his door.

“Adrien?”

It was Nathalie.

“School starts in approximately 2 hours, make sure you get dressed before you come downstairs for breakfast.”

“Thank you, Nathalie.” he muttered into his pillow before dragging himself out of bed.

He checked the time on his phone. 6:30am. Nathalie was nothing if not exact.

Adrien turned it off so he wouldn’t have to look at the screensaver of him and Marinette.

———————

Sabine poked her head from the trapdoor.

“Marinette? School is starting soon, you have to get up.”

No answer. 

Sabine sighed and climbed up the ladder to Marinette’s bunk.

“C’mon, Sweetie. It’s time to get out of bed and greet the new day!” 

Still no answer.

Confused, Sabine climbed onto Marinette’s bed and pulled back the covers.

A note in Marinette’s loopy handwriting lay where her daughter’s head usually was.

With shaking hands, Sabine picked up the note and unfolded it.

I’m sorry. 

———————

Marigold ran across the rooftops, sobbing her eyes out.

She had no idea where she was going, she just wanted to feel okay again.

Finally, after running for what felt like an eternity, she collapsed.

Why was she doing this? She should turn around, go back home, and pretend everything is fine!

But she couldn’t.

Marigold sat down against the chimney and closed her eyes.

Marinette and Adrien sat next to each other on the grass, their fingers intertwined.

Adrien picked a golden flower and held it out in front of him.

“A marigold.” he said, placing it behind her ear. “For our everyday Marigold.” Marinette giggled.

“You’re such a dork.” she muttered, looking up at him. Adrien blushed nervously.

“I-I mean... is that ba-” Marinette pulled him close and pressed her lips to his.

“I love you.” She murmured when she pulled away. Adrien smiled.

“I love you, too.”

Tears slid down Marigold’s cheeks, but she didn’t bother to wipe them away.

❝ The white cat symbolizes the silvery moon prying into corners and cleansing the sky for the day to follow. The white cat is "the cleaner" or "the animal that cleans itself," described by the Sanskrit word Margaras, which means "the hunter who follows the track; the investigator; the skip tracer." The white cat is the hunter and the killer, his path lighted by the silvery moon. All dark, hidden places and beings are revealed in that inexorably gentle light.

You can't shake your white cat because your white cat is you.

You can't hide from your white cat because your white cat hides with you. ❞