Let It Go

It's a rainy day and school has just ended. Marinette waves goodbye to Alya and is about to turn towards her home when she spots Adrien and Nino exiting the school. They stop at the top of the stairs and chat while they wait for Adrien's ride to arrive. She doesn't want to draw attention to herself, so she ducks around the corner of the school, her pink, floral umbrella just peeking out from around the corner.

"Say, Adrien, we've known each other for a while, and I always talk to you whenever I have girl problems," Nino says.

"Maybe that's because you have a girl to talk about," Adrien says, throwing a smirk at his friend.

"So, give me a hint, you're always so secretive, and I get that there are some things you want to keep for yourself. But I'm your best bud, so throw me a bone, Adrien," Nino pleads. "Wait, do you have a crush on anyone?"

Adrien rubs the back of his neck with one hand and spins his umbrella with the other. "A crush might be an understatement."

"So, who's the lucky person that has your affections?" Nino asks, jokingly elbowing his friend.

Adrien chuckles at Nino's unknowing pun. He gets a wistful look on his face as he looks out towards the rainy street. "Well, I can't tell you everything. But I will tell you that the girl I'm in love with doesn't go to this school."

"Fine, fine. Keep your secrets," Nino said. He bumped shoulders with Adrien and motioned to the car that had pulled up to the curb. Adrien nodded and shook his umbrella open while Nino pulled up the hood on his rain coat and walked Adrien down to his ride. "See you tomorrow, bro."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Nino." Adrien turned to wave goodbye to Nino, and noticed something pink around the corner. His curiosity piques, but before he can get a better look, his driver clears his throat and motions for Adrien to get inside. He knows that there are many people at school with pink umbrellas, but the pattern was close enough to the one he had seen in Marinette's possession. Could Marinette still be at school? And did she overhear his conversation with Nino? He supposes that even if she did overhear, it wouldn't matter too much. She's one of his closest friends-along with Nino and Alya-and he doesn't think that there is much Marinette could do with the scant information of his crush.

Tikki peeks up at her holder from her place in Marinette's sweater pocket. "Are you okay, Marinette?"

Glassy-eyed, Marinette responds, "Yeah. I'm okay. I just learned that Adrien is in love with another girl. Of course, he is. I suppose I'm just disappointed that I didn't realize it before."

"Let's go home, Marinette. Some cookies will cheer you right up!" Tikki chirps.

"I think I fancy a walk before I go home," Marinette said, pushing off from the wall she was leaning against.

Her kwami understands that she wants to be left alone, so Tikki agrees. "Just try not to stay out too late, I don't want you to get sick, Marinette."

"Ah, home sweet home," Plagg said, stretching his body and relieved to be let out of Adrien's stifling bag.

"Come on, Plagg, it's time to stretch our muscles with a little run," Adrien said.

"You're going to go back in the rain? Aw, come on!" Plagg whined.

"Hey, I'm tired from being cooped up at school and at home, too. It'll only be a little while. Plagg, claws out!" Flexing his claws after his transformation, Chat Noir walks to his closet and grabs a black rain poncho; carrying an umbrella wasn't feasible, so this would have to do to protect his head from getting too wet. He's glad that there isn't any wind to go along with the rain, because that would make him miserable and the definition of a drenched cat. Chat is careful to watch his step and doesn't use his baton to vault himself over the rooftops-now that would be suicide. Instead, he takes it nice and slow, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. There aren't many people outside and those walking the sidewalks are looking to get to where they are going as quickly as possible. Except for one person.

His attention is drawn to the beacon that was a pink umbrella on a bench in the park across from his school. Did someone just leave their umbrella on the bench? It seemed to be propped up in a strange way. Chat Noir slid down the drainage pipe on the building he was on and went to investigate further. Stepping closer, he recognized the umbrella to be Marinette's, and stepping even closer, he could see pink rainboots peeking out from under it.

"What are you doing out in the pouring rain, Princess?"

After leaving the school, she had taken a detour and weaved amongst the grove of trees on the far side of the park, something she used to do while playing hide and seek with her father. Of course, that was on much sunnier days. She didn't particularly care about getting wet and she had collapsed her umbrella while under the dense foliage. That didn't stop the rain, though, and she let the rain drench her. Her sweater had gotten damp, and Tikki had complained of being wet and cold, so she went into an inside pocket Marinette had sewn, closer to her body heat. Marinette wanted to stay outside for just a bit longer, so she ends up on a bench in the park in sight of her home, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and her umbrella nearly hiding her completely from sight.

"What are you doing out in the pouring rain, Princess?" A voice calls out.

Marinette lifts her umbrella up a little, and a puzzled and worried Chat Noir looks down at her. "I could ask the same of you. I thought cats didn't like water," she responds.

"Well, I have a purr-fectly good reason for being out here. Crime doesn't let a little water get the best of it, unfortunately, and then there's the matter of sad looking princesses who seem to need a friend. Seems like you're in the latter cat-egory." He takes a seat next to her, and she lifts her umbrella so it partially covers the both of them.

"You always find a way to slip puns into a conversation, don't you?"

"So, what's the matter, Marinette? You're drenched and sitting alone in the rain." Chat Noir tries to pull up his legs onto the bench to mirror Marinette, but his tall stature doesn't fit onto the narrow bench. He settles for sitting crossed legged and turns a little to face her.

"I was just taking a stroll afterschool-to get my mind off things. I didn't want to be wallowing in my thoughts at home."

"So, you thought wallowing in your thoughts soaking wet outside on a rainy day was better?"

"Okay, fine, hindsight is 20/20, but I don't get sick that easily, if that's what you're insinuating. And hey, if I get sick and stay home tomorrow, I won't have to see him."

"'Him?' Penny for your thoughts?"

She takes a moment to think about what to say. "I overheard my crush talking to his friend."

"Oh?"

"He said that he's in love with another girl." At this, her face fell, and she turned her head away to look out over the park.

"That's…well, that's a bummer. I'm sorry about that, Princess. If it makes you feel any better, you're a wonderful and sweet person and you can have your pick of any fine gentleman."

"Except him, huh? You don't have to be sorry about anything. I don't feel as bad as I did half an hour ago. I guess the only thing I am now is glad he has someone that makes him happy. And maybe disappointed that I didn't have a chance to begin with. But who knows, maybe when I get home, I'll finally let out all of my frustration and ugly cry over a plate of cookies."

He places a hand on her cheek and turns her head to face him, noticing that she may have already shed a few tears. He rubs his thumb under an eye and says, "Nah, I bet you're a pretty crier, Princess."

He stands up from the bench and offers her his hand, which she takes. "How about I escort you home now?"

"I have a better idea. You can take my umbrella; I think you have a longer trip home than I do." She points to her home right across the street. "I'm still in the mood to feel the rain on my skin, and you should keep dry." She puts her umbrella in his hands and places her hands over his. "Thanks for listening to me, Kitty. I really appreciate it." She makes a dash for the bakery before he could say anything, and he wonders if he really did do anything to make her feel better.

"Tsk, seems like Marinette caught a cold. She said she got caught in the rain after giving her umbrella to someone who needed it. That girl is too selfless, I tell you guys." Alya announces to the boys in front of her and taps out a text, presumably to Marinette.

Adrien rests his hand on his propped-up arm. To be honest, he knew in his head that Marinette had stayed out in the rain for too long. He shouldn't have taken her umbrella, but she had just run off too quickly before he could react to her kind gesture. "She's going to need the notes, how about we run by afterschool and give them to her?" asks Adrien.

Alya's eyes sparkled for a second. "That's a good idea! How about you-"

"Alya?"

"Never mind. You know what, I think I should give them to her alone," Alya says warily, frowning at a text on her phone.

"What? Why?"

Alya fixes her expression and plasters a grin on her face that seemed too fake to be real-Adrien would know all about fake smiles. "I've got a super immune system because of my sisters, and we wouldn't want you to catch her cold and miss out on all of your extracurriculars. Leave it to me!"

"Alright…tell her that we hope she gets well soon." He's a little skeptical, but he supposes that Alya has her own reasons for wanting to go alone.

In the evening, Adrien decides to visit as Chat Noir and see how Marinette is feeling. It was only right that he checks up on her, and perhaps he could return her umbrella, as well. Chat Noir lands lightly on her roof, careful to not disturb the girl inside. Peering through her trap door, he notices that Marinette is sound asleep, a box of tissues by her pillow and an extra blanket on her body. He supposes that her red nose and flushed face is most likely from her being unwell, but he feels a pit in his stomach because she may have been right about 'ugly crying' about her crush. He doesn't want to wake her, so he leaves, vowing to visit her tomorrow.

Marinette is absent from school a second day. Adrien offers again to take her notes to her, but Alya is adamant that she is still contagious. That evening, Plagg tries to talk Adrien out of visiting his princess, but Adrien is adamant in visiting Marinette as Chat Noir to see how she really is. In his haste, he almost forgets to take her umbrella and has to double back to his house after running the rooftops for a block.

Arriving at her home, he is surprised to see her up. Marinette is sitting at her desk catching up on homework, and in her lap is a plain black umbrella, familiar for some reason. He's glad to see that she is looking and feeling much better than the day before.

"Princess, are you feeling better?" Chat Noir jumps through the trap door and makes sure to avoid landing on her bed and dirtying her sheets.

Marinette looks up from her page, a little startled to see him. "Oh, hey, Chat. How did you know I was sick?"

"Well, I always make it a habit to check in on sad princesses and when I came by yesterday, you looked pretty sick. I also came to return your umbrella. Thanks for lending it to me. Say, what happened to not getting sick so easily?"

"I'm not right all the time, Chat." Marinette groans and erases a line of work on her paper.

"Well, besides checking in on your health, how are you feeling, Marinette? Didn't 'ugly cry,' did you?"

"Maybe a little. Having nothing to do all day except wallow in my thoughts has given me some insight. It's weird to say it, but I don't really know a lot about my crush. It's not like I was only caught up on outward appearances, though; he has such a kind and generous heart, and that's what I fell in love with."

"You fell in love with his kindness?"

"Yeah, in fact, it's why this is so sentimental for me." Marinette picks up the black umbrella in her lap, and in one fluid motion, swings it towards Chat and opens it above his head. Chat is struck with how familiar it all is, and the sweet but lonely expression on Marinette's face keeps him from saying anything. "I fell in love with Adrien Agreste on a rainy day."

Chat Noir is awestruck with her words and he starts to realize that his heart is beating faster and faster. He realizes now why she had been so sad that day; Marinette had overhead him talking to Nino, and he hadn't been seeing things when he thought he spotted a pink umbrella. He wants to act and say something because he's now blushing like crazy and no one has ever said these kinds of words to him before. Adrien has had fans shout out their love to him, and his parents have said they love him very much, but there's something so intimate about hearing those words from his sweet princess herself, albeit in third person. Right now, he's forgotten his feelings for Ladybug and realizing that there has always been this incredibly creative, kind, and selfless girl right in front of him this whole time. He doesn't seem to care that he might regret it later or get in trouble with his partner for revealing his identity. Right now, he wants to reassure Marinette that her feelings are reciprocated. He feels the words on the tip of his tongue, but she looks away from him.

She closes the umbrella and weighs it in the hands. "And I will cherish this feeling of love for as long as I live. But I've been keeping these feelings to myself, and after hearing that he's in love with someone else, I've decided that maybe these feelings should take a backseat to something else."

He's confused. Backseat? What does she mean? Will she confess to Adrien?

"Tomorrow, I'm going to give him back his umbrella. This one attachment I have to him. I'm going to let these feelings for him go. I want to give him friendship, something that is precious and that he hasn't had so much of because he's been homeschooled for so long. Maybe then, I'll find the courage to tell him how I feel-or felt-or maybe he'll be with the one he loves."

Her words twist like a knife in his stomach. He had been so ready to tell her about his newfound feelings, his dive into falling in love with her after her heartfelt confession about his alter ego. But she's decided to move on? His conscience spats something about the luck of the black cat, and he can't help but ruefully agree that he may have been too late in realizing that the feelings he has for Marinette were more than feelings of friendship. He's too late and his pursuit of Ladybug had made him blind to the girl who he considers one of his closest friends.

The next day promises blue skies and fluffy clouds, the dreary rain of days before but a memory etched into his mind. Marinette is back in school, and he's glad to see her again (he doesn't think about the fact that he saw her just the previous night). However, there are butterflies in his stomach, and he almost forgets that today, Marinette has decided to move on from having a crush on him. Before the last period of the day, Adrien almost refuses when she asks for a bit of his time to talk afterschool. He's not cruel though, and it would be rude to try to stop her, especially when she is so resolute in her decision. Avoiding Marinette would make the both of them feel worse, and he wouldn't do that just to satisfy his own feelings.

"Adrien, thanks for giving me some of your time."

"Of course, anything for you." He really means it.

She blushes and looks at the ground, her hands behind her back play with the umbrella she was going to give back to him. "Right, so, the rain these past few days reminded me that I haven't given this back to you." She brings her hands out in front of her but keeps a steady hold on the umbrella, as if it was a lifeline.

"It's also reminded me about your apology for what Chloe did, even though you weren't at fault at all. I really appreciate you lending me your umbrella, and it made me realize that that was the day…"

I fell in love with you. He feels greedy and selfish and wants her to say those words so that he can confess as well.

"That was the day that our friendship started." His heart falls to the pit of his stomach. "I know we'll keep being good friends, and I want you to know that if you ever need to lean on someone, I'll always be here.

"Anyway, I've been holding onto this for a while; it's time I give it back to you." She places the umbrella into his hands; his fingers brush hers, and though they warm up at the touch, the absence sends a chill through his body, as if she took a piece of him with her.

Adrien knows that she isn't simply talking about the umbrella. For now, he'll hold onto everything-his feelings, her feelings-and one day, when he can show Marinette that his feelings were true, he'll tell her.

A/N:

If anyone is curious as to what Alya's text from Marinette was, it went along the lines of "I know what you're going to do, Alya, so don't even think of sending Adrien over to give me my homework and notes. He doesn't know it, but I sort of got sick because of him. I'll tell you the details over lunch if you give me the notes, but I think I'm ready to move on from him." And the good friend she is, Alya doesn't push her to reconsider or anything, but understands that Adrien's got feelings for this mystery girl, too, and that if Marinette truly wants to move on, she will support her best friend.

Become friends with a someone like Alya, peeps. Understanding and communication is key in any relationship.

This isn't my first foray into angst, so if you're into it, check out my other ML story Wedding Dress!

Also, please check out my DeviantArt (same username) for accompanying art that I've made for this story!