My Body Is Yours - ch. 2
Finally more My Body Is Yours! What better to procrastinate with than marichat fanfic, amirite? But, seriously, I finally got back to writing this one. Enjoy!
>>oh, how the turn tables
Monday
“Hey Adrien,” Marinette called cheerily as she entered the classroom on Monday. “Had a good weekend?”
Oh, what a weekend he’d had, indeed. Scarce were the moments where he hadn’t been preoccupied with the recent revelation that Marinette used to have a crush on him. Naturally, the girl in question had been at the forefront of his mind, and so he was having just the slightest difficulty meeting her eyes as she greeted him. It certainly didn’t help that he was also plagued by the memories of her casually feeling him up during their session on Friday.
“H-hey Mari,” he managed to get out, averting his gaze as she walked past his desk to take her seat behind him.
“Sup, dude. You seem chipper today,” Nino said to Marinette.
“Oh, yeah! I just started working on this project, and I’m super excited for it. I can’t wait to get home and work on it,” Marinette was positively glowing, and it occurred to Adrien that she was talking about the clothes she was making for Chat. For him.
Adrien felt a nudge in his side, and looked up to see a smirking Nino. “It seems someone finally wised up to his feelings, huh?”
It was at that point that Adrien realized he must have quite the rosy complexion at the moment, his embarrassment when it was pointed out certainly not doing him any favors. He buried his face in his hands, and groaned, “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
Nino just laughed, as the bell rang, and class began. Adrien continued to force his attention strictly on schoolwork. Thankful for the seating chart, he made sure to keep his head facing front the entire time. He’d never been so grateful as he was today for his driver waiting outside of school. Both for lunch, and at the end of the day, he was the first out of class, making a beeline straight for the waiting limo.
By the time he reached home, and was preparing for patrol, Adrien was wondering just how he was going to make it through another day, let alone a whole week, having to face Marinette at school.
“Why don’t you just ask her out?” Plagg put in, just as he was setting up his piano practice recording. “Problem solved, she’s clearly still into you.”
“Come on, Plagg, you know I love Ladybug,” Adrien brushed his kwami off. “Besides, she’s clearly trying to get over me. She’s not even stuttering around me in school anymore. God! How could I have missed that? It was so obvious looking back!” he added, reflecting on his own obliviousness.
“Yeah, well it was torture just watching you two dance around each other when you both clearly have it bad,” Plagg snickered, as he finished up his wedge of cheese.
“Yeah, whatever,” Adrien huffed, calling out his transformation. Plagg snickered all the way into the ring. In a flash, he was out the window, and on his way to patrol.
<===>
“Something bothering you, minou?” Ladybug turned to face him as they wound down their patrol. An uneventful evening had left Chat to marinate in his own thoughts, leaving him distracted and spaced out.
“Oh, it’s…” Chat struggled with wording his answer. “I guess you could say… I found out someone likes me—civilian me— and has for a long time. But I only found out because they’re moving on from me.”
“Oh,” Ladybug’s response was curt, as she pushed down the eerie feeling of familiarity in that situation. “That… that sounds… rough?” She didn’t quite know how to respond, but knew she wanted to be there for her kitty, as it was clearly bothering him.
“Yeah… you could say that,” Chat chuckled, not quite with the mirth he usually had. “It’s just… I- I’ve never really thought about anyone else romantically. No one apart from you, m’lady.” He turned a small smile towards her.
“I know,” he quickly continued, “how you feel, and I’m at peace with that. Or at least I’d like to believe I am. So, I’ve mostly moved on from you, but now I find out that this girl has… had a crush on me. And now, I can’t stop thinking about her.”
Ladybug remained silent, a whirlwind of emotions running through her head—and only her head, because she couldn’t afford to let her heart get involved. No, she wouldn’t let that nagging hurt in, swallowing down that sudden taste of bitter jealousy.
“It sounds like you really like her,” she finally landed on, forcing a sympathetic smile. “I’m… sorry she moved on, just when you realized. I… have been in a similar situation.”
“I… do you really think I like her?” Chat turned to her now, eyes wide and uncertain. But, underneath it, she saw that sliver of adoration and hope in his expression, which until recently she’d had a monopoly on.
“Well, you can’t stop thinking about her, that’s a pretty good sign,” Ladybug reasoned, watching his face closely. “Do you think you don’t like her?”
“I don’t,” Chat started, but paused. Ladybug watched as he seemed to turn inward, reflecting on his memories of this mystery girl. She nearly gasped when she saw his face melt almost immediately. The softness in his eyes, and the warmth of his smile, and the glazed look in his eyes. She recognized that look from one place, and one place only: the mirror, when she daydreamed about Adrien. Scratch that—even she wasn’t as gone as Chat seemed to be in that moment.
“She’s an amazing girl,” Chat started again. “She’s… kind and smart and funny and just so… so good. She’s so adorable when she trips up, but so determined and talented. I… I don’t know, bugaboo, she’s so perfect, I don’t even know why she would like me. But I… I’ve always loved you and I don’t know if I could love her like she deserves, when I’m still moving on from you.”
Ladybug felt something bittersweet in her chest. The way he spoke about this girl was how she’d always wished someone—until recently, Adrien—would speak about her. She was flattered at how much he seemed to love her, Ladybug, that he didn’t realize how hard he seemed to be falling for this other girl. For just a second, she felt a fierce possessive impulse. She could tell him he’s making it all up, because he found out about this girl’s feelings. She could regain a monopoly on his affection, just as she was realizing how much it meant to her. She could—
“I don’t know if you hear yourself,” Ladybug managed to get out, voice soft but steady, “but it seems like you love her plenty enough already. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you speak like that about—” me, “—anyone else before.”
Chat stilled, eyes still wide, but a growing realization in them. His voice was airy and light as he laughed, “Plagg was right… I really do like her!”
For some reason, Ladybug felt a further twist in her heart at those words. The kwami that was always flirting with Tikki, always joking about the bug and cat being made for each other. He too had decided Chat was better off with the mystery girl than with Ladybug.
“M’lady, thank you so much!” Chat beamed at her, the cloud over his head already evaporating. “I know how much trouble I’ve caused you with my romantic confessions and I really do apologize for that. I know you have a vested interest in me liking someone else, but you really did help me sort out my feelings today. You’re the best, LB.”
With an exaggerated flourish, he got up and sank into a bow, giving Ladybug one last flirtatious wink before extending his baton. “Catch you later, bug!”
Ladybug watched as he left, finally lifting the dam on her emotions, as a few tears silently slid down her cheeks. With a rueful smile, she whispered to herself. “I’m in so much trouble.”
