#spotson

The night they defeated Hawkmoth was a night of celebration and sadness. She remembered the shock that spread through Paris when they removed Hawkmoth’s miraculous and revealed Gabriel Agreste. Ladybug and Chat Noir were so stunned that they couldn’t even pound fists over their final battle together. Chat had taken her hand and they walked away from all the madness as the authorities and news teams started to roll into the scene. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop until they reached a place where they could watch the arrest unfold without the noise and chaos. As they sat on the edge of the roof they let their silence consume the subject that they wanted to avoid at all costs.

“Listen, I don’t want to talk about Hawkmoth,” Chat Noir shifted to look at her. “We only have a few minutes left before we detransform and I don’t want to say goodbye yet.”

“Chat, I- “

“I already know, you don’t want to reveal our identities and I respect your wishes, but I just want to see you one more time because I’m going to miss you Bugaboo.”

Marinette reached over and took his hand “I will meet you on the top of the Eiffel Tower at midnight, after we’ve had a chance to recharge.”

Chat’s face broke into one of his classic grins for Ladybug and he stood up as his ring gave its final warning beep. “See you then m’lady.” Marinette watched him use his baton to propel him into the night.

But their last meeting never happened because on her way to meet Chat Noir, Marinette ran into Master Fu.

“Marinette, it pains me to tell you that it is time to return your miraculous. I can’t take the chance of losing anymore and having a repeat of the Hawkmoth situation again. Take a minute and say your goodbyes to Tikki.”

Marinette was speechless, she couldn’t believe that in an instant her entire second life would be gone forever. And Chat…she would never get to see her best friend one last time. She said a tearful farewell to Tikki and returned her to the guardian of the kwamis.

“Marinette, as you probably figured out by now I already collected Chat Noir’s miraculous and he asked me to give you this letter.”

Marinette took the letter and returned to her home to read it. She could still recite every word to this day.

 To my dearest Bugaboo,

The past 2 years of my life have only been made bearable because of the time I was able to spend with you. I loved making you laugh with my meowful puns and my purrrfect flirting. But I need you to know I wasn’t just trying to make you laugh. I always meant what I said because I care about you Ladybug. I think you know what I mean by that, but you deserve it hear it in person.

So let me tell you face to face.

I don’t want to say goodbye to you, my best friend. I never wanted to reach the day we defeated Hawkmoth because I knew I would lose you forever. But we don’t have to lose each other. You can still meet me tonight but without the masks. I’ve lost so much tonight, please don’t make my list any longer.

-Your kitten

Marinette didn’t know what to do, but she knew she couldn’t sit still, so she walked over to the park across from their parent’s bakery and sat on a bench. It was dark, but she could barely make out the shape of someone sitting at the fountain with their head in their hands. As she walked towards the fountain, they looked up and Marinette instantly recognized the green eyes that were filled with tears.

“Adrien? Is everything ok?”

“No, actually my life is currently spiraling out of control. You might not have heard yet but my father was just arrested tonight after Ladybug and Chat Noir revealed that he has been terrorizing Paris as Hawkmoth for the past two years.”

“Wow Adrien, uh I hadn’t heard that yet, but that’s awful! What is going to happen to your father’s company and you? What are you going to do now?”

“Well I have to wrap up some things here first, but then I need to leave Paris. There are too many bad memories here and believe it or not, but Marinette, you are one the only lights in my life here. I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too Adrien,” Marinette was to shocked to say anything else.

“Marinette, don’t give up on your designs. I know good fashion and so does my father, even if he did turn out to be Hawkmoth. He told me that you showed more promise than most of the top designers in Paris. I want you to promise you won’t abandon your gift.”

“I won’t.”

“Good. Maybe someday I’ll even wear your designs. Anyways, I’ve got to get going, but I’m so glad to have been your friend Marinette. Goodbye.” Adrien gave her a hug and then walked away.

Marinette waited until he had turned around the corner and then she sunk to the ground and cried for her first love. It wasn’t fair. She lost Adrien, Tikki, and her Chat Noir all in one night. She had never felt her heart physically hurt as much as it did that night. Her cellphone ringing awakened her from her grieving.

“Hello, Maman?”

“Marinette, honey, where are you? It’s 1 o’ clock in the morning and your father and I didn’t know where you were.”

“IT’S ONE O’ CLOCK?! Maman I have to go, I forgot to do something, but I’ll be home soon. Love you, bye!”

Marinette hung up the phone and started running towards the Eiffel tower without thinking. She was going to find her best friend; she needed him more than anything right now. She only hoped that she wasn’t too late. As she breathlessly reached the top of the tower she frantically searched for someone, anyone, but there wasn’t a single person in sight. And Marinette felt her heart break all over again. She watched the sunrise over Paris from the top of the Eiffel tower, but as the sun rose, her heart sunk.

After seven years, she still teared up thinking about that awful night. She had missed her last chance to meet the one person who knew her secret. The one person who knew who she really was at the core of her being. But she couldn’t stay stuck in that sadness, so she channeled her inner Ladybug into building her own fashion empire and she ended up in New York City running her own company.

But where had it all left her?

Covered in coffee and walking into work, heart hurting at the thought of her long lost friend.

Marinette couldn’t focus the entire day. She accidentally tore a new design, shredded important papers, and spilled more coffee on herself. Why couldn’t she shake herself out of this funk?

That night Marinette sat down at her computer and did something she promised herself she would never do. She opened up Google and entered ‘ladybug and chat noir’. Instantly her screen was filled with the familiar masked face that she knew too well. It had been seven years since she had seen that face and before she realized what was happening, Marinette felt tears start to slide down her cheeks.

Oh, the things she had missed the past the past seven years. She missed his names for her. She missed his ability to make her laugh like no one in the world could. She missed his green eyes that pierced through her soul, even through a computer. She missed the feeling of his strong arms around her carrying her away from danger. How many times had he thrown himself in front of her to take the hit, so that she could save the day with her lucky charm? She missed the support of her best friend, and yes she missed the terrible puns too. But most of all, she missed his love for her.

Chat Noir had never told Ladybug, but Marinette knew. She would never forget the look on his face when he told her that he loved Ladybug. His love was genuine and Marinette hadn’t realized that all of the flirting and teasing was real until that night.

As she looked back on all of her times with Chat Noir, she saw it all in a different light. It had only taken her seven years to realize how much she missed him. No, miss wasn’t strong enough of a word to describe the way she felt. She longed for Chat Noir in a way she had never wanted someone before. And then it hit her like a ton of bricks. How had she not realized it before?

Marinette gasped and whispered, “I love him.”

Ever since that first battle against Hawkmoth. She continued to scroll through the pictures and began to see the love in her eyes for her sidekick. It had been there all along, but she was to preoccupied with her crush on Adrien to recognize what real love was. Sure, Marinette would always hold a special place in her heart for Adrien, but that was just puppy love. What she felt for Chat was so much more.  He was her friend, partner, protector, helper, supporter, and shield.

Marinette thought about the night when she found out Chat Noir was in love with her. She had been so shocked that she didn’t realize the only reason they defeated Glaciator was because he recognized they were in love so he wasn’t able to turn them into ice cream. When they fought Dark Cupid and Ladybug kissed Chat Noir, the evil had only been overcome because it was a true love’s kiss.