Chapter 14 - I Love You

"Tikki, do you think there's any point to staying here? Will he come?" Marinette asked her kwami. She sighed. She'd been here for almost an hour already. She'd pretty much just been ranting to Tikki, thinking to herself, and texting Alya.

She hadn't said who her soulmate was, of course. She'd just said that he'd promised to meet her, and then stood her up.

Even though Alya did know who her soulmate was, and was currently even angrier than she'd previously been, looking at those texts from Marinette, she wasn't going to tell her best friend everything she knew.

At least not until she'd properly discussed with Adrien. Wait, no Cat Noir. Jeez, this was getting confusing. Anyway, she needed to hear an explanation for this. Her best friend was even more hurt.

Meanwhile, Tikki had responded to Marinette's question. Flittering around her and speaking in her normal high pitched squeak, the kwami hesitated before shaking her head. "I don't think he's showing up, Mari."

Marinette put her head in her hands. "But that kiss..."

She couldn't stop thinking about it. Of course, she had kissed him before. But it just wasn't the same. The look in his eyes. The way he spoke to her. He'd told her he couldn't focus if he didn't know she was safe.

It was the sweetest thing he'd ever said to her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he still loved Ladybug more. That he just loved her cool, confident exterior, and not for who she actually was: quiet and clumsy and altogether not quite put together.

And now this. He'd told her to stay there, he'd to meet her after, not just leave her there. And now he was just gone.

"There's got to be a good reason. There has to be. I'm just being silly," she said quickly, to dispel her alarmingly depressing thoughts.

Tikki nodded. "Definitely, Marinette. Cat Noir wouldn't just do that for no reason. He wouldn't break his promise."

Marinette knew the truth in Tikki's words, but the truth was, she took promises seriously. And after that kiss, she'd been prepared to believe anything he would say to her.

It was magical. She wanted to kiss him again and again, except for the fact that she was still so hurt, thinking about his confession to Ladybug.

The truth was, she was extremely confused. All these emotions were swirling around her head. She needed to get out of this dark closet, that was for sure.

"Tikki, I think I'm going to leave. I can't wait anymore."

"Good choice, Marinette," said her kwami as she flew into Marinette's purse and started to nibble a cookie.

Marinette opened the door. Dim light immediately flooded her face, and she rubbed her eyes.

The school was completely empty - well, except for the janitor, Mr. Bernard, who was currently giving her a weird look, seeing as she had just emerged from a closet long after school was over, She awkwardly smiled at him and leaned against a wall to text Alya.

Alya immediately responded and Marinette smiled at the angry tone of her text. Her best friend was so caring and protective of her. She was ready to do anything so Marinette wouldn't get hurt.

Marinette responded, grinning.

Alya's text came seconds later.

Marinette stowed her phone in her pocket and made her way down the hall.

As she walked into the late afternoon sunlight, she checked the time and was startled to find that it was dinner time, and her mother had texted her.

She immediately broke into a run.

At dinner that night, Marinette wasn't able to keep her mind off one thing: Chat Noir. She pushed her peas around her plate as she thought of her mixed anger and love towards him.

It wasn't as if he'd made a declaration of love to someone else, was it? She giggled to herself.

She immediately stopped. She was mad at him. Very angry. She couldn't just give in!

Except that kiss...

Everything was so confusing.

After dinner, doing homework in her room, she kept looking at her window, expecting a knock and a pair of green eyes to appear.

But there was nothing, and so she went to bed with a heavy heart.

Meanwhile, it was late at night and Adrien had finally gotten home. The photoshoot had been horrible. Chloe was all over him and the photographer kept ordering them to do ridiculous poses, wearing awful clothing. Adrien hated it. He hated everything about modeling, and especially with Chloe.

Well, maybe his feelings were just so strong because he'd been forced to stand up Marinette.

Or what if he'd defied his father for once, and not broken his promise? Marinette was important enough for it.

(Suffice it to say, he was feeling as confused as Marinette.)

The whole photoshoot, he'd kept thinking about the kiss. kiss. The kiss of all kisses. He kept smiling to himself, causing Chloe to misinterpret it as because of her. She was his friend since childhood, but he didn't exactly enjoy time with her. Mostly because of the way she treated Marinette, and everyone else of course.

That kiss. He didn't know why they hadn't done it earlier.

Oh right, because he was busy being stupid and declaring his love for Ladybug. He couldn't believe she'd heard it. He knew she was still angry, but he didn't feel it in the kiss. All he felt was love. Love?

"Yeah, kid, you are are stupid," Plagg said from his bed, interrupting Adrien's thoughts.

"But - how'd you know I was thinking that?"

"Sheer intelligence. I was watching you. I knew you'd probably gotten to the point where you were cursing yourself for being an idiot. And trust me, you are right," said Plagg, before returning to his cheese.

Adrien sighed. There was no protesting. Plagg was right.

He sat bolt upright. "But Marinette! I have to go visit her!"

"Oh no, please don't -" came the panicked voice of his kwami before Adrien said "Plagg, claws out!" and Plagv was sucked into his Chat Noir ring, leaving a good deal of cheese uneaten on the bed.

Chat Noir raced through Paris, hoping to catch Marinette before she was asleep.

But when he reached her window, he saw lying on her bed, eyes closed. She was so cute when she slept.

He opened the window very quietly, not wanting to wake her up, and tiptoed through her pink room, dodging piles of clothing and furniture. He found a piece of paper on her desk and a pink fuzzy pen. He grinned at that pen - it was so Marinette - before he wrote the note.