Catch a Falling Star

by Rose Thorne

Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug, nor do I make money from writing fic.

Chat is always a bit torn on how he feels on nights he patrols alone. On the one hand, he is bereft of Ladybug. On the other, it gives him time to visit a certain bakers' daughter for talking and treats—which he desperately needs given he is burning off far more calories than he is taking in; model diets are awful. He likes their discussions, how open she is with him as Chat rather than Adrien.

Tonight, though, he's a little worried, which is another reason he was stopping by. Adrien has noticed Marinette isn't her bubbly self lately. She seems to go through the day almost slouched, too subdued. The warmth she usually shares with the world is just… gone. It had slowly leeched away.

She's curled on a lawn chaise, wrapped in a blanket with her head against her knees when he lands. And when she looks up at the sound, he realizes she's crying. Not just a little, either, her face red, eyes puffy, their light dull.

"Princess...?"

Chat is too shocked to move. He's never seen her like this, or anywhere close to this. She has always been so strong, someone who carries everyone around her when they need a hand. He hadn't thought she could break like this.

Marinette wipes at her eyes with a sleeve and attempts a smile that's barely a shade of her usual brightness. Even that fades too quickly.

"I'm s-sorry, Chat… I…" She's silent for a moment, her lower lip quivering. "I'm not g-good company tonight."

The despair in her voice unfreezes him, and he quickly settles beside her.

"What's wrong, Princess?" He settles an arm around her, pulling her close.

She lets out a hiccuping sob, hiding her face against her knees again. "I c-can't do it anymore. I can't k-keep being strong."

Chat rubs her back in slow circles, hoping to soothe her. "What happened?"

Marinette shakes her head. "I d-don't want to b-bother you with stupid collège drama, kitty."

Collège drama, meaning something at school. What has Adrien missed? He tries to think of how he might get her to share, then remembers her genius as the adorable Mouse Miraculous holder.

"It's hurting Multimouse. Superhero business."

She peers up at him, not looking too impressed. "Former. Remember? I messed that up, too."

"But you were amazing, and you deserve better than what's making you cry." Chat's brain takes a moment to catch up with her sentence. "What do you mean, 'too'? Don't people call you their everyday Ladybug?"

"Not anymore." It's barely a whisper. "I'm jealous, petty, and a bully."

Chat cups here cheek gently, careful with his claws, tilting her face until she's looking at him. "You? Never."

She avoids his gaze.

"Princess, if I hadn't seen you as Multimouse, I'd be convinced you were my Lady!"

Marinette actually huffs at that. "Not likely. I'm just boring old Marinette."

"You are anything but boring."

She just shrugs, despondent. It's as though all the fight has gone out of her. She's gone from Marinette to a marionette, and he has to find out why.

"Who made you feel this way?" Chat wants to yeet whoever it was into the next decade.

A ghost of determination crosses her face, and she leans away. "It's not important, kitty. It's not like it's an Akuma."

Chat leans with her. "But you could be Akumatized. And honestly, Princess, that's terrifying. I think you could beat Ladybug and me-you're creative and smart enough to. And I don't want to fight you."

"I've fought them off," she murmurs.

His jaw drops. "You've… They've come for you?"

Aside from himself, Marinette is the only one in their class who hadn't been Akumatized. He expected her to laugh at the idea, but… he's absolutely serious about the idea being terrifying.

She pulls her limbs around her tighter, making herself smaller. "A few times."

Few meant more than once, more than twice. He draws in a sharp breath, horrified. "Princess…"

"They go away if you remember you're not helpless." She looks up at him suddenly, her eyes wide. "Ladybug told me."

"I don't want them coming for you at all," Chat tells her firmly.

Marinette looks away again. "I'm sorry. I'm not as good as you think I am, Chat."

He pulls her closer as she starts crying again. "You are, but you're also human. M'Lady is also human, and I'm sure she's had the same thing."

Chat immediately hopes she won't ask if he's faced it, but what she does say is worse.

"It's… getting harder to remember I'm not alone. That there are options. I d-don't know if I can keep—" She breaks off with a sob. "It's t-too much."

It might not be the best move, pulling her in his lap and letting her sob against his chest. It might be inappropriate. But if he was as upset as her, he would want the contact, so he risks it, murmuring soft nonsense to her until her sobs turn to soft tears again. It reminds him of holding Ladybug, the few times she's ever been upset, and he doesn't want to think about that—he so wished Marinette was her.

"Tell me?" he asks softly. "Letting it out to a friendly ear can help sometimes."

Chat can feel in her body language when she relents, and he waits for her to gather her thoughts.

"I'm really not a good person," she starts, and he has to stop himself from interrupting. "A while back, a new girl came to school, and was getting really friendly with someone… someone I liked. I followed them, because I really was jealous."

Marinette is too kind to give him Lila's name, but of course he knows it anyway. She sniffles, leaning her head against Chat's chest, and he winds up learning how his father's book disappeared—Lila had stolen it and thrown it in the trash—and Marinette had fished it out and even taken the blame when returning it to his father. She had even seen Ladybug confront the liar.

He hadn't known she had done that for him, or that she had seen Ladybug yell at Lila for lying. Chat rubs her shoulder. "Why didn't you tell him the truth?"

Marinette snorts. "That convoluted mess? He probably wouldn't've believed me, and then A— that boy would be stuck at home instead of in school. He's stuck like that enough already." She shakes her head. "I just wanted him to be happy."

He learns she knows about Lila's Volpina Akumazation—and that she heard it happened again on Heroes Day. And her relief at the girl's disappearance, even if it meant occasionally she Skyped and lied about where she was.

When Marinette falls silent, Chat pulls away slightly. "Princess?"

She curls in on herself again. "When she came back, she pretended to have disabilities. So Nino—another friend—gave her his seat at the front. But then he took my seat, and so everyone changed seats. But I guess no one wanted to sit next to me, no one cared where I'd want to sit. I wound up in the back. Away from my friends. Like I wasn't important."

Her voice is steadily getting softer, and Chat's glad for his enhanced hearing. She tells him of the class turning on her when she asked why she was in the back, like she doubted Lila's disability, her best friend accusing her of jealousy over a boy. He had the uncomfortable feeling it was over him—his civilian self, at least—regardless of what she had said at the wax museum.

Adrien doesn't know what to do with that information. He adores Marinette; if not for Ladybug, he knows he would return her crush.

And then she tells him about being threatened in the bathroom. Chat stiffens—she didn't tell him that before. He recalls his words to her at school, and knows now how wrong they were.

"That's when I saw the Akuma, and I fought it off, and she became Chameleon."

She falls silent again, and Chat feels he needs to say something. "So this is that Lila Rossi girl who keeps getting Akumatized."

Marinette nods. "I don't know why the Akuma would go after her—she wasn't upset. She had me where she wanted me. But A— that boy I liked… he said I shouldn't say anything about her lies anymore. That I should just let her lies reveal her eventually. Otherwise she might get Akumatized."

"But what about you?" slips from his mouth before he can stop himself. He feels like a heel for giving her that advice without knowing the whole story.

Her lips twist in the sort of bitter smile that he's used to seeing on Chloé. Not on her. It's wrong on her.

"That's what I wondered. I stopped saying anything, though. Because I'm an idiot and I liked him and I thought he had my back. But I wasn't going to pretend to be friends with her or to believe her. I wind up lying enough—I'm not going to be an accessory to her lies."

Chat blinks. Is that what he's been doing? Being Lila's accessory. "Are you angry with him?"

Marinette seems startled by the question and frowns. He can tell she's weighing how she feels, considering carefully before she answers.

"I want to be," she whispers. "It'd be easy. But he's… naïve about how to deal with bullies. They don't go away if you ignore them. They just get worse. But how would he know? He's been homeschooled most his life and his only friend was Chloé Bourgeois, and she's Queen Bully. And it took me years to stand up to her, so he… I guess he's kind of the doormat I used to be."

She falls silent again, and Chat waits for her to continue, considering her words as he does. She's not wrong—he doesn't know how to stand up to bullies. He's only just learned to stand up to Chloé. A little, anyway. The "doormat" comment hurts, though, more than he expected.

"I can tell Lila makes him uncomfortable, touching and hanging on him like she does. Like he's a possession. His smile is fake when that happens, but he doesn't stop her."

"He's a boy, though. Aren't guys supposed to like girls touching them?" Chat asks.

Marinette frowns up at him. "Kitty, it's sexual harassment, any gender. Unwanted touching is actually sexual assault, too, even if it's a girl doing it to a boy."

She's worried about him, he realizes. More than that, he's never thought he has other options beyond grin and bear it with Lila and other girls. He's never been told that's not normal or acceptable behavior. He really is naïve.

Chat is also well aware that he pulled Marinette in his lap without asking. He shifts away from her a bit. "Is this okay, Princess? I didn't ask, and—"

"Oh, kitty!" Marinette flushes and interrupts him. "You— I mean, you're not— This isn't—" She takes a deep breath. "You're trying to comfort me, as a friend. Not trying to possess me. It's not… not, um, sexual."

Chat can feel his face heating, and knows he's blushing himself.

"There's a difference. I don't think he knows that he can say no. He's so sheltered, Chat. And I can barely talk to him so it's not like I can help." She sighs. "And Lila would make it a big thing if I did and I'd look like the bad guy again. I can't help him when I can't even help myself."

Chat winces. He's been completely unaware of her isolation, and he has no excuse for that. "Does he know that's happening?"

Marinette shrugs. "I thought he had my back, that all that mattered was that we knew. But Lila started telling lies about me, making me look petty and heartless and cruel, and he hasn't said anything. My best friend thinks I'm unreasonable and mean because I don't want to be around Lila. I barely see my friends outside of school anymore."

Chat is unprepared when her tears start again.

"So I guess she followed through on her threat. Maybe they weren't really friends in the first place. Maybe they were just using me. Or they only want me when they need me. And only if I'm doing what they want. Only when I'm positive."

He hugs her close, not sure what to say. He can't understand why the class would treat her like this; Marinette has bent over backwards for them, always working to help. All Lila's done is give them pretty stories.

"I wonder if he was ever a friend, or if he was just being polite."

Chat goes still, horrified that he's given her that impression as Adrien. But he's never realized how much self-doubt she has; she hides it from everyone, and no wonder given what's been happening. And he hasn't stood up for her. He's failed her.

"Maybe he thinks I'm annoying and mean and p-petty, too." A sob breaks through, but she forces herself to keep going. "Maybe I never really saw him at all, just thought his smiles at me were real because I was infatuated with him. M-maybe he thinks I deserve this. Maybe I do."

"You don't deserve any of it." Chat can't stop the growl in his voice, and he takes a few breaths to calm himself. He's made her feel this way, and he hates that. "Princess, you deserve so much better."

She hugs him tightly, sobbing, and he holds her, resolving to change. To work to protect her. To be the friend she deserves but apparently doesn't have. He let everyone abandon his everyday Ladybug, and now she's full of self-doubt, a fallen star, because Adrien is inept.

Chat runs his clawed fingers through her hair, something he himself loves, something that comforts him, gently pulling loose the bands that keep it in pigtails, brushing through it. It takes a while, but she slowly calms. The way she's relaxed against him, she's close to sleep, but there's more he wants to ask.

"Have you told your parents all this, Princess?" He's limited in power, but he imagines her mom on the warpath could get things done.

Marinette shakes her head. "If things get worse, I might ask about… changing schools. Starting fresh."

The idea chills him—school without Marinette, the very first friend he'd made on his own. He'd already felt the loss with her pulling away and into herself, staying distant and losing her shine. It's what led to him coming here as Chat.

"You shouldn't have to do that, Princess." He realizes his hands have stopped, and he moves them closer to her scalp, brushing the skin.

"I know. But… it's an option. Something that means I'm not helpless." Her voice is a sleepy murmur. "Helps me against Akuma, maybe."

He doesn't like it, not at all, but it's better than her being helpless to Hawkmoth. He never imagined she would be at risk of being Akumatized, but maybe he'd placed her on the same pedestal as he had Ladybug.

"What if you talked to that boy you like? Maybe he can help."

She shakes her head, sinking more deeply against him. It occurs to him that their position together is almost… intimate. But he's her friend, comforting her. Nothing more.

"I can't… If he doesn't believe me, I don't think I could handle it."

He wishes he could reassure her, but it runs the risk of revealing his identity. "I could talk to him? Make him see sense? Help him see you?"

"Kitty, don't worry about it. It's not worth it." She sighs again as his hand grazes her ear and moves to the nape of her neck. "I don't think I feel that way about him anymore. I wasn't really healthy about it, anyway. I obsessed, I guess. I needed to stop. Maybe this was a wake up call. I've had a lot of time to think these past few weeks."

She's given up, he realizes. On him—or his civilian self, anyway. He doesn't expect the tightness in his chest, the sense of loss that creeps through his body like the remnants of waves on a beach. Chat knows he should feel guilty that he's cheated on his feelings for Ladybug, but he doesn't. Rather, he's amazed at the revelation that it's possible to love more than one person like that at once.

Marinette is nearly asleep in his arms, and though he wants to keep holding her, she's moved on. It isn't fair to her for him to cling now just because he's had a revelation.

"Let's get you to bed, Princess. Wouldn't want you to catch cold."

He picks her up like the princess he sees her as, smiling as she loops her arms around his neck. He's careful descending into her room, but once he's fully in, he can't move.

The pictures that once covered her walls are gone. All the ones of their friends, all the ones of him. The only two remaining are one picture of him in the pigeon hat, and another of him and Juleka modeling her designs. Replacing the rest are sketches of future designs. There's nothing of Alya or Nino anymore.

"Kitty?"

"Just noticed you redecorated."

He walks the few feet to her platform bed, gently easing her into it and pulling her sheets and blankets over her.

She manages a sleepy smile. "Treats on the desk under me. Take them."

"I will."

"Chat… Thank you. Talking did help."

He reaches forward, burying his fingers in her hair again. She looks so different with it down.

"I'm glad," he says finally. "Sweet dreams, Princess."

He takes the plate of treats up with him, shutting the trapdoor behind him. Even after the treats are eaten, he finds himself still on her roof, engrossed in his thoughts. Only the distant chime of church bells indicating the late hour rouses him from his reverie, the tolls chasing him home.

Plagg is unusually quiet when he detransforms, letting him think uninterrupted.

He'll change his behavior, starting tomorrow. Adrien will become the ally and friend she deserves. Not because it might rekindle anything—he doesn't deserve it—but because he should have been one the whole time.

He doesn't know it's too late, that Lila's plans will culminate in the morning with Marinette's expulsion. That all he'll be able to do is damage control after letting the liar's claws dig into the school unchallenged for so long.

All he can do is try to help Marinette shine again, and never let her fade away.

I don't normally write in third person present tense, but I kept lapsing into it and gave up. Not beta'd. Any mistakes are my own.

Long time reader, first time writer. Might be a bit derivative, but couldn't get it out of my brain except through writing fic.

There was recently an update on s3 episode order, so that's taken into consideration here.