Un coup de foudre
I went and listened to the song “Two”, by Sleeping at Last, after seeing this inspiring fanart by the wonderful @australet789 : https://australet789.tumblr.com/post/179306098525/its-okay-if-you-cant-catch-a-breath-you-can-take . My writing might be rusty at best , but I want to post this modest little drabble anyway. Written on my phone, so pardon any mistakes !
———//———-
The sand is warm and supple under her feet. She basks in the heat of the sun and breathes in the seabreeze, tasting the summer air.
Blue skies carry on endlessly, stretched out forever, joined at the seams to the tranquil sea.
She is light like a feather, like a leaf in the wind. The world, spread before her, is open to endless possibilities and all she needs to do is take a step ahead.
A butterfly flutters by, stroking the air so gently that the softness of the ripples is otherworldly. Marinette stands in awe of its beauty, of its shimmery colours and intricate patterns, like a painting most magnificent. Perfection consolidated into one small, perfect body.
One outstretched hand beckons for the wonderful creature to approach; a myriad of all the beautiful hopes and dreams of the world hover just beyond her reach.
But something is wrong.
It stops, like time frozen in its tracks - like death encased in ice, an obscure mausoleum. The sun is no longer warm, no longer bright.
Marinette draws her hand back and hugs herself, in hopes of retaining whatever heat is being sucked away. The air seems heavy, stifling, a burden upon her chest and her shoulders.
Colours begin to fade; the dullness spreads from the butterfly to the surrounding air and each time its wings beat against the horizon, everything darkens.
She screams.
“No!” She reaches for the now deformed creature, whose wings shred as they shed colour. “Please, stop! Let me… Let me help you …”
The sea roars, waves rolling in an unsettling crescendo. The once-velvety sand now grates at her feet, like sandpaper thick enough to strip walls bare.
She doesn’t want this. She wants it to stop, to go away, to settle back into what it was before.
But things can never be as they were before.
When the darkened husk of the moth finally crumples upon the sand, a dark wave the size of a mountain engulfs the sun and the sky, it swallows the light and the peace, and it comes crashing down on her.
Marinette struggles in the stifling cold, fighting the weight of the ocean until her muscles grow stiff. But she’s heavy now; and just like quicksand, the more she tries to escape it, the more it pulls her down into the abyss. One small girl trapped in a body of water so huge not even light comes through. Tired and freezing, so far from home, the last breath in her lungs draws to an end.
One.
Two.
A voice.
“It’s okay if you can’t catch a breath.”
That voice…
“You can take the oxygen…”
Adrien?
“…straight out of my chest.”
Leathered fingers twine with her own, dissipating the cold ever so slowly.
Green eyes breach the obscure depths. The colour of hope.
The grip on her hand tightens and it’s like a heavy coat slides off her shoulders, like the anchor shackled to her ankle breaks away and sinks, and suddenly the sea isn’t so scary. She’s not alone anymore.
He pulls her up, closer to the surface, closer to him. An aurora of light surrounds them, bringing him into focus - the tousled blond hair, the familiar smirk. The black mask framing those evergreen, cat-like eyes. Of course it’s him.
(Her oxygen.)
Marinette holds on to Chat Noir, pulls him close, finds that her arms wrap around his shoulders as easily as her breath makes its way back to her. Settled against his chest her heartbeat finds its place, pace matching his. It just feels natural, it feels right - unbreakable.
She almost doesn’t want it to end. His lips are soft, his hand now firmly at the small of her back, his body pressed against her in a way she never dreamt would feel this good. She’s high from the way he lifts her up and that is how they rise, embraced, on the same gasp of air.
A burst of sheer relief courses through them both as they finally reach the surface, and it takes them a moment to recover from the jolt of sheer energy. With a deep, sweet shudder they break apart their lips - Chat settles his cheek against Marinette’s neck and she flushes, her arms refusing to let go.
He’s the one who draws away, gently so, even though it’s clear he doesn’t want to.
“Well, hey there,” he winks. That infuriating, endearing smile of his sets the world right again.
“Nice of you to drop in,” she greets back. He bows in response, tipping an imaginary hat, and Marinette laughs.
They walk back to the beach, holding hands through the calm waters, and sit down on the peaceful shore.
For a while, they say nothing. No words need be spoken. The sun settles in the horizon now, lending an orange hue to the skies above.
“You can rest now, My Lady. Stay as long as you need.”
Marinette leans on his shoulder, tired but content, relieved, just as it begins to rain.
Droplets patter gently so, warm and kind, almost nostalgic - like diamonds they reflect the shimmery light coming off of Chat Noir as he detransforms, a prism of all different colours dancing in Marinette’s eyes as she falls asleep.
.
She wakes up with the thunderclap just outside her bedroom window.
“Marinette,” Tikki sits by her pillow, looking worried. “Are you alright? You’ve been under too much pressure lately.”
“Oh, Tikki … I had the weirdest dream.”
.
Elsewhere in Paris at the very same time, Adrien Agreste stirs in his bed, heart pounding.
He sits up and watches the water cascade down the glass panels of his room, coming to terms with the intense urge to kiss Marinette under the rain and the starlight.
australet789
ruinedchildhood
