A/N: Ok, so Illuminate is truly one of the most lyrically beautiful albums I've ever heard, and I came up with this one-shot based off of a medley of songs from it, particularly Roses.
Disclaimer: Some lyrics from Shawn Mendes' Illuminate will appear, scattered about the story, they ARE NOT mine.
"Ladybug?" He watches her turn around to face him, tears dotting her eyes, arms crossed.
"Chat…I don't want to talk about it." It being that her longtime boyfriend, who he'd never even known the name of, had dumped his Lady and made her hurt.
He takes a step closer, one hand clasped around the rose behind his back.
"I promise I will pound him into the ground for hurting you," He frowns, feeling the thorns dig into his palm.
He should've never allowed this to happen. He should've protected her with everything he had.
"Please no promises, we…we can't keep our promises." She sniffles.
"I would never break a promise to you. I would never-I promise I'll never let you down. Not like he did,"
She nods slightly, meeting his eyes at last.
"I trust you more than anyone Chat, but…there's no fixing this. I…I loved him," Marinette had gone after Nathanael after Adrien had rejected her affection.
He was always such a gentleman, and he'd always treated her with respect. After wallowing in despair for months after the rejection, Marinette had finally found it in her to love again, and she cared deeply for Nathanael. But for some reason tonight he had ended things in the most brutal of ways, a dumb text message.
Of course Adrien had had no idea he had rejected his Lady…And ever since that day, he'd hardly been able to get Marinette to even say hi to him.
"It's not that I don't care about the love you have, it's not that I don't want to see you smile…" He rips his gaze from hers, "But there's no way he can feel the same. He left the most beautiful, wonderful girl in Paris,"
He rips the bandage off, and Ladybug's eyes widen.
"How could you-" She takes a step back.
"My Lady, I didn't mean to diminish-"
She shakes her head, "Yes you did, Chat. You want to make this about you. You're trying to use my heartbreak to advance our relationship." She blinks back another bout of tears, anger filling her to the core.
"How could you? I called you over to talk, to be my friend, but all you care about is finally getting me to yourself?"
"No, that's not true, Ladybug." He tries, pulling his hand from behind his back and holding out the rose. "I came because I care about you, and I want you to be ok."
She stares at the rose a long moment, before swatting his hand away.
The rose flitters gently to the ground.
"I don't think you'll ever understand," She sniffs, "Just…I need to be alone. I made a mistake calling you here."
She turns away again.
"Ladybug, I love you." He whispers, his voice cracking.
"Don't be a fool," She snaps, looking over her shoulder, her eyes fiery. "Chat, I can't give you what you want. I'm a mess you don't want to fix." Her voice softens.
"No one does."
…
"What're you going to do now?" Plagg sits on Adrien's shoulder, as he paces the streets below Ladybug.
"I've hurt her. I've hurt everyone." He pauses, "She thinks my feelings are insincere, and that I think her feelings are obsolete."
Plagg purrs, shaking his head.
"You can't let it end this way, you have to prove you really care…I'm not going to live with you sulking for another few months." He adds bluntly.
Adrien plucks Plagg from his shoulder, holding him up in front of his face.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks silently, fragments of anger crossing his eyes.
Plagg crosses his arms, sighing.
"After that Marinette girl stopped talking to you, you were depressed for months."
"She was one of my closest friends. And I was the reason she'd left. I had justification," He defends, imagining her face the moment he'd told her 'there was someone else he loved'.
"I'm still not clear on why you'd turned her down. If you really didn't care you wouldn't have cried for that long."
"Plagg…" He groans, blurting out, "Of course I cared for her! But I told myself that someday Ladybug would finally take me seriously, that we were already a couple."
"And…I refused to be disloyal to My Lady, despite however I felt about Marinette. I didn't want to betray her…Or not give Marinette the guy she deserves, someone who isn't still stuck on someone else."
He let Plagg go, his anger dissipating.
He'd never meant to hurt anyone. And Plagg was actually right for once, he couldn't let it end like this.
…
Marinette hid her face in her arms, squeezing herself into as tiny a space as possible under the moonlight, sitting against a chimney.
"Marinette?"
"I thought Chat was different. But none of them ever care for whatever happens to Marinette. All of them, even Nathanael, they all prefer someone else…And most of the time its Ladybug." She whispers, imagining the face Adrien had made when she had admitted her true feelings to him.
She had taken one glance at the notebook in his arms, a small Ladybug doodle at the corner, and known exactly why she'd been rejected.
Adrien didn't like Marinette. Instead he liked the superheroine Ladybug.
"Are we really that different?" She sniffles, pulling her knees even closer.
"No, Marinette, you are Ladybug, everything she has is yours."
"But yet everyone falls for her, and I'm left invisible in the background…Chat…" She trails off, looking up, and wiping her eyes with a fist. "He loves Ladybug, just like the rest of them, and when he heard Ladybug was free again? He jumped at the thought. He's never really cared to see the girl behind the mask first…Maybe because he could sense his own disappointment when my mask comes off,"
"Now, you know that isn't true. Chat has tried to see the girl behind that mask many times before…He's been trying to get you to reveal yourself for months." Tikki frowns, flittering up to face Marinette at eye level.
Marinette looks away.
"This isn't about Chat, Marinette. This is about Adrien and Nathanael." She says sternly, "You have to be honest with yourself, you don't really want Chat to go, do you?"
She stays silent, stubborn.
"Marinette?" Tikki tries again, her voice softening. There is a long pause.
"I don't want Chat to go Tikki…And I just know he will if he found out who I really was. He'll leave just like the rest of them."
"You have to give him a chance Marinette. You can't allow your heart to shrivel because of two mistakes. I know you have the strength to allow Chat Noir back in,"
Marinette sighs, still unsure.
"He got me a rose, and I let it go…"
…
"It's not that I couldn't find the words to say, but when she was with him she seemed happier, and I didn't want to take that away…" He shakes his head, "Not after I'd broken her heart."
"You still love Ladybug then,"
A long pause.
"Plagg, I love them both."
"So if it's too late to make things right with Marinette, at least try to get Ladybug back, to get your partner and friend back."
Adrien nods, decisively.
"Plagg, Claws Out."
Chat Noir scaled the building side rather easily, and silently.
He would not put his emotions out there again. He would not put her in that situation.
He would solely be her friend and partner, and help her cope with her broken heart, no matter how much he wanted to be her knight in shining fur.
She needs Chat Noir, the friend, not Chat Noir, the flirt. He needs to be careful he doesn't hurt her any more.
He'd lost Marinette for good that way.
"My L-" He stops himself, unsure that he even had the right to use the name. "Ladybug?"
No response, though he can hear the shuffling of feet coming closer.
He shuts his eyes for a moment, bracing himself.
But instead of a cold push, he receives a warm hug.
He opens his eyes, to…
Marinette.
"Mari?" He whispers, aghast.
She pulls away, and her red puffy eyes meet his.
He connects the dots before she even opens her mouth.
Marinette is Ladybug.
And he'd hurt the same girl twice.
"Chat…I can explain," Her face shatters in fear, and he realizes he'd been gaping at her.
"I knew…I knew this was a bad idea," She mutters to herself, fresh tears cascading down her rosy cheeks.
"No Marinette, I'm…I'm so happy that you showed me." He shivers lightly, "I'm so relieved to see you,"
"Chat, I'm not trying to start a fire, with this flame." She starts slowly, "But I'm worried that your heart, might feel the same…I'm so worried, that now that you know me, the real me, you'll drop me just like Adrien and Nathanael."
His eyes widen.
She pulls out the crooked rose he'd given her earlier, a petal falling to the ground between them.
"You can tell me to stop if you already know, but I'm not sure my heart can take it." She frowns, staring at the rose.
"Marinette I was terrible to hurt you that way." He blurts out.
"What?"
"Mari," He pauses, pulling out the lucky charm she'd given Adrien, nearly a year ago. "I was an idiot."
"Adrien?! Adrien…Why? You told me no because you wanted Ladybug?" She stutters, her grip on the rose tightening.
He reaches out to calm her, but she takes a step back.
"I told you no because I love you both…And I refused to give you half of me, when I still thought Ladybug and I had some sort of chance." He tries. "I'm so sorry…"
Her breathing picks up noticeably.
"You…You love me? You love us both?" She barely squeaks, her face heating up.
"I have to be honest with you, Mari…Tell me if I'm wrong and this is crazy…" He places his hands around hers, on the rose.
"But I got you this rose, and I need to know…Will you let it die or let it grow?"