Slumping down onto the chilled rooftop, Chat Noir sighed heavily.

The reveal had happened. It had happened days ago.

However, for all the good it should have done, things were never more awkward and distant between himself and Marinette. Between himself and Ladybug.

Ever since, even patrols have been split between them both... so the long, tense silences felt a little less painful.

Chat Noir's claws raked through his hair, mussing it a little more than usual as he stared out over the mostly slumbering city. Only a few night owls still lingered, slowly headed home.

His eyes drifted - again and again - back to the fairy lights wreathing Marinette's balcony. To the dim light at her window.

Somehow, he still had no idea who Marinette has actually had feelings for all along. He was pretty sure it wasn't Luka now... but he still has no hope that Marinette's feelings for him than friendship.

He fully expected to be rejected by her. Just as he has by Ladybug over and over again. Even now, he was starting to doubt Marinette's words the day her father was Akumatized as well. As much as she hated lies, he knew how important it had been to keep her identity well hidden.

To keep her family safe.

He shook his head, leaping up to expend the anxious energy that was already seeping back into his tensing muscles as he rushed along the rooftops near the school.

Marinette had to know that his feelings hadn't changed. Neither one of them could work together nearly so well in battles without absolute truth, absolute trust between them.

While words have always been the easiest thing for him, right now - when it mattered most - he kept freezing up.

Part of him was sorely tempted to ask to borrow Sass. There was simply no easier way to figure out the words that would actually work without ill consequences.

The trick? Of course, there was no way to do that without asking Marinette herself... and explaining what he needed it for...

A glimmer of light caught his attention, as he spotted her statue standing in the park closest to her house. The one that had always reminded him of their earliest, happiest days, when battling Akuma had felt far more like a game.

He grinned, quickly snapping out his baton to pivot his direction mid-leap.

If he couldn't talk to the Lady(bug) herself just yet, he could always practice his confession to her double... until he was certain he got it just right.