Chapter Text
Chapter Four: Is it Really Abuse of Power if Plagg Says it's Okay?
Adrien paced restlessly across the small space between his television and the couch, muttering incoherently to himself as he considered what he had learned at school that day. Plagg floated nearby, happily staying out of his charge's dilemma and focusing instead on the large chunk of camembert in his tiny black paws.
Running his fingers through his hair for roughly the forty-sixth time that night, Adrien debated how best to approach his current situation. It certainly wasn't a common issue, he mused with a slight frown. The love of his life was in love with him and yet, was she really? It was no lie that the young model felt as though his superhero alter-ego was a better representation of himself than the quiet and well mannered front that he put forth for the sake of his father's business, but the polite, reserved Adrien was still a part of who he was.
It seemed as though Marinette had little interest in the Adrien Agreste side of him and preferred the Chat Noir part drastically more. However, upon thinking about it- and was he ever doing a lot of thinking- he had never seen any indication that his classmate was in love with his leather clad self. He allowed himself to hope for the briefest moment that maybe Marinette just wasn't an overly outward person when it came to her feelings. After all, they had been friends for almost two years and today was the first that he'd ever heard of Marinette's crush. He brushed that train of thought off quickly however as he recalled Nino's confession that him and Alya had tried to keep it a secret from him to spare his feelings.
After class, Adrien had practically dragged Nino to the Agreste mansion, ignoring his father's rule that the DJ technically wasn't allowed in the house. He had sat his friend down on the couch and demanded that he tell Adrien everything that he knew about Marinette's feelings for Chat Noir. In between his hesitation for his oldest friend's privacy and his constant distraction by the stuff in Adrien's room ("Dude! Is that a rock wall?"), the model had gathered that his crush was borderline obsessed with his other identity. Plagg was practically vibrating in his pocket during the conversation, the little kwami losing his mind with laughter.
Which brought Adrien to his current predicament.
Marinette was somehow so in love with him as Chat Noir that she barely even noticed Adrien Agreste. So what was it that made her so infatuated with Chat? He briefly considered the possibility that she was attracted to his fame, but then Adrien himself was already a famous model. A model that worked for her favourite designer, no less. Aside from the fact that he knew for certain that Marinette wasn't so shallow as to love someone only for their fame, there was no way that she would pick Chat over him for that. But if it wasn't that, then what?
Adrien groaned in frustration as he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere with his ponderings. The teenager flinched slightly as he suddenly recalled how quickly he had brushed his partner off during their evening patrol. He had been so preoccupied with his thoughts of Marinette that he barely responded to her attempts at conversation and even cut his patrol short in order to get home and do nothing except think himself into oblivion. Glancing over to his kwami, Adrien briefly wondered if maybe he ought to transform and find her to-
Wait.
A sly grin split across the model's face as an idea popped into his head. Normally Plagg would shoot the quickly forming plan down with a half-assed rant about responsibility and not using the miraculous for your own gain, but, Adrien considered as he slinked up to the tiny god-like creature, if I offer enough incentive...
"Hey, Plagg?" He drawled as he approached his kwami. Plagg looked up from his last bite of cheese to regard his chosen suspiciously.
"I don't like the sound of your voice right now," the floating cat stated, quickly shoving the remaining snack into his mouth in fear that Adrien might take it away.
Adrien grinned even wider, clasping his hands behind his back in mock innocence. "How do you feel about the sound of four whole wheels of camembert?" The kwami's eyes widened almost humorously at the offer before quickly narrowing into an incredibly suspicious glare.
"What do you want?"
A soft blush dusted Adrien's cheeks as he rocked back and forth on his heels, looking anywhere but at his kwami. There was no way that Plagg was going to give up the opportunity to tease him about this, no matter what his answer was. "I was just hoping to transform into Chat for a little while," he said unconvincingly. "I just think-"
"You want to go visit the baker girl."
Adrien faltered, his eyes shooting back to the magical floating cat. Hesitantly, the young boy nodded while his hand came up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Make it five and I don't care what you do," the kwami stated with a roll of his eyes. A gleeful smile took over Adrien's features as he had to physically stop himself from jumping with joy.
"Thanks Plagg, you're the best!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don't do anything too mushy and don't you even think about forgetting my cheeeaaah!"
The kwami's demands were cut off by an excited Adrien initiating his transformation, causing Plagg to fly through the air dramatically and into the black cat miraculous. A vibrant green glow emanated throughout the room for a quick moment before Chat Noir stood in Adrien's place. The hero wasted no time in leaping out the window and launching himself out onto the Parisian rooftops, his brilliant grin still plastered to his face.
Marinette huffed indignantly as she flopped ungracefully into her desk chair and released her transformation. Her small companion shot out of her earrings before floating up into her charge's face and tilting her head curiously.
"What's wrong, Marinette?" Tikki inquired. Marinette just sighed and turned her chair to face the desk in order to cross her arms on the hard surface and drop her head into them. Her kwami followed and landed lightly next to the girl's left arm.
"Chat barely wanted to talk to me, Tikki," Marinette groaned. The muffled sound was barely distinguishable, but Tikki placed a reassuring paw on her elbow and smiled gently.
"He seemed to have a lot on his mind! Don't blame yourself for his actions tonight! Chat Noir could lead a very difficult life under his mask, there's too much that you don't know in order for you to assume that it's your fault!" Marinette turned her head so that her cheek was resting on her arms and she was looking at her kwami.
"I know that you're probably right, but I can't help but worry that the only thing he wanted to talk about was the Dark Cupid incident. I know he said he's not mad, but what if I really screwed things up with him?"
"You did what you had to do in order to defeat the akuma, Marinette. You would have made that choice regardless of your feelings for Chat." Marinette smiled and nodded her head gently, though the movement uncomfortably made her face rub against the sleeves of her blazer.
"You're right, Tikki," the dark haired girl relented to which Tikki giggled.
"I'm always right, silly!" The two of them both laughed and Marinette poked the kwami's belly gently.
"Of course you are," she agreed with another giggle. "Well, at least Chat deciding to bail early gives me time to catch up on my schoolwork too." Tikki nodded in approval as Marinette reached into her schoolbag that she had left next to the chair before patrol. Pulling out her tablet and her physics textbook, the young heroine began working on her assigned problems for the week. She was so engrossed in her work that, about an hour later, it took her almost a full minute to register a tapping sound coming from her skylight. "What in the world?" She wondered aloud as she placed her stylus down on the desk and hesitantly moved towards her loft. Grabbing the nearest weaponizable object, she inched closer to the window until she caught sight of a familiar pair of brilliant green eyes.
"Chat?!" She exclaimed in surprise, surging forward to unlock the hatch and throw open the skylight. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a confused blink as the leather clad hero dropped onto her bed.
"Were you going to attack me with an umbrella?" He asked with a smirk instead of answering her question. Looking down at her right hand, Marinette noticed that she did, in fact, grab Adrien's umbrella that he had lent her on the first day of school two years previous.
I really should return that, Marinette thought offhandedly as she discarded the umbrella.
"You can never be too careful when leather wearing strangers start tapping on your window," she countered, crossing her arms over her chest and regarding the grinning boy sitting cross legged on top of her pink duvet. He opened his mouth to say something when an object beside her pillow caught his eye.
"Is this a Chat Noir doll?" Marinette's face turned beet red as the hero scooped up her doll in his clawed hands. She sputtered as she tried to form words, but the sight of Chat Noir thoroughly inspecting the doll left her speechless. "Where did you get it? I've never seen one like this in the stores before."
Marinette shuffled awkwardly where she was standing on her loft next to the bed. "Erm... I made it," she admitted shyly. Chat's eyes brightened and he smiled at her in amazement.
"That's incredible! You're incredible."
The young woman squeaked in response, not sure how to react to that. Discreetly, she lowered her right arm and pinched herself in order to determine if she was having a very strange, yet not unwelcome, dream. She flinched at the action, confirming that, nope, this was definitely real.
"Are you okay?" Chat Noir asked in concern, noticing his companion's silence and her sudden pained flinch. She blinked in response and shook her head slightly before answering.
"Sorry, yes, I just... Why are you here?"
"What?" He asked slyly, leaning forward on the bed as a sultry smirk danced across his lips. "I'm not allowed to visit my favourite civilian?"
Marinette squeaked again and her blush returned to her face at full force. "I'm your favourite civilian?" The bluenette mentally cursed herself for the way she was acting. Where was the cool collectedness of Ladybug when she needed it? Besides, she knew Chat and she talked to him nearly every day. Why was her damn luck failing on her now?
"Of course," Chat purred. Literally purred. And just like that, Marinette understood. Chat had never acted like this towards her while she was Ladybug, never returning her advances or showing any interest in her romantically. But suddenly it seemed that the cat had changed his mind and was at least somewhat interested in her... but as Marinette. Was it possible that he had figured out her identity and come to gloat? As panic seized the young woman, she immediately tuned into what her partner was saying to see if she could find any indication that he knew. However, when she realized that the hero was going on about her help during the Evillustrator incident and a few other times where she couldn't get away to change and ended up helping him with an akuma as a civilian, she relaxed.
"So what made you finally decide to visit me?" Marinette inquired curiously, sitting on the opposite side of the bed from Chat. He turned so that they were sitting directly across from each other and shrugged.
"A hero never gives away all of his secrets." Marinette rolled her eyes in response. Of course the cat was going to be difficult. Unsure of what more to say, the young woman reached forward and picked up the discarded doll from beside Chat, pulling it into her lap and holding it absentmindedly. Her mind drifted off into a world of possibilities, fueled by the hero currently sharing her bed. Lost in thought, she failed to notice the way that the boy's eyes honed in on the doll, a strange mix of jealousy and pride blossoming in his chest.
"How was school today, Princess?" Chat Noir inquired, placing an elbow on his knee and leaning his head into his hand. "Any exciting adventures that can compare to mine?" Marinette scoffed lightly as she snapped back into reality.
"Oh Chaton, I don't think anything in my life could compare to what you do." The young woman smirked at the white lie while Chat shrugged noncommittally.
"Nonsense. I'm sure your life is extremely interesting." The cat hero shifted on the bed so that he was lying on his stomach facing Marinette, hands folded under his chin. "Tell me what horrible foes Marinette Dupain-Cheng is forced to combat every day."
With a laugh, she reached forward and ruffled Chat's messy blond hair. "Aside from my arch nemesis, physics, Marinette doesn't fight too many battles," she replied cheekily. The girl grinned internally as Chat mewled at the contact and began a long winded explanation of his love for physics. There was something about Chat that made him so easy to talk to- both as Ladybug and apparently as Marinette. She was still confused as to what drove the boy to visit her but there was no way that she was going to take the opportunity for granted. If Chat wanted to talk to her civilian self then Marinette saw no reason to stop him. Her identity as Ladybug was still safe and it wasn't like Chat was doing any harm in visiting her after his patrol.
"Maybe I could help you out with it!" Chat exclaimed boisterously, sitting up suddenly in his excitement. Marinette couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm.
"My hero," she giggled. Chat's face broke into a boyish grin at the joke, his body practically vibrating with excitement at the thought of helping Marinette.
"What are you working on? Kinematics? Circular motion? Waves? Electromagnetic radiation? Atomic physics?" The hero's excitement grew and Marinette had to throw the Chat Noir doll at him to focus his attention back on their conversation.
"Silly kitty, most of that stuff is way more complicated than what I'm working on. Atomic physics is a high level option course! We're only just getting into kinematics." Chat blushed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly- a motion that looked strangely familiar to Marinette.
"Sorry," he replied with a nervous chuckle. "I just... really like physics. And I now realize how incredibly lame that makes me sound."
"No! Don't say that. It's good to have something you're passionate about. Like, I like designing!" Marinette jumped up and grabbed her sketchbook before happily handing it over to Chat Noir. Eyes wide, the hero gratefully accepted the small journal and carefully opened it up to the first page. Gently, he flipped through all of Marinette's designs, taking in the intricate detail that she put into each piece. Ideas for fabric and technique were scribbled throughout the margins, some crossed out and some circled and highlighted. The work was astounding- as Adrien, Chat had always known that his classmate was interested in fashion. However, he had no idea just how talented she was. His father would be thrilled at some of the ideas that Marinette had tucked away in her little book.
To his amusement, Chat also found a common theme through a large amount of Marinette's designs. There were little cat paws recurring on many articles and the colour scheme seemed to orient around black and green. Occasionally there were some red and black additions that Chat assumed were meant to pay homage to his partner, but a majority were very Chat Noir-esque.
"Oh wow, Mari," he breathed in awe as he flipped back to the front of the book and looked through the sketches again. "You have so much talent. My fa- I mean, any designer would admit that you have an incredible eye for detail."
Marinette flushed red at the compliment, suddenly finding it hard to find words. She settled on a stuttered thanks that suddenly broke into a giant yawn. Chat looked up from her sketches at the sound of her exhaustion and smiled half-heartedly. Glancing at the small pink alarm clock beside the bed, he closed the journal and placed it gently on the nightstand.
"It's late, Princess," he murmured, shifting so that his feet were underneath him and he was crouching on the bed. "I should let you get some sleep." Marinette's eyes widened and she immediately moved to protest, ready to tell the hero to stay a while longer. However, her words were once again cut off by a yawn and she resigned to a sheepish shrug.
"Sorry... it's just been a rather long day." Chat smiled happily and reached for her hand, pulling her closer so that she was standing with her knees touching the side of the bed.
"No need to apologize. After all, a princess needs her beauty sleep." Chat Noir winked and lifted Marinette's hand to his mouth to place a gentlemanly kiss upon her knuckles. Her breath caught in her throat at the action and she watched helplessly as Chat bounded up through her skylight.
"Wait!" She called, pushing herself out of the window and stopping Chat before he could leap off the roof.
"What is it, Marinette?" He asked, perched atop her balcony railing. Marinette choked on her words for a moment before she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and took a deep breath.
"Are you going to come back again?"
Chat grinned mischievously as he shot her another wink. "Of course," he replied suavely. "I have a promise to keep regarding a high school hero and her mathematical enemy. Sweet dreams, Princess!"
With that, the feline hero fell back off the roof. Marinette's heart sputtered for a moment before she saw his staff extend and Chat Noir sail up into the night sky and out across the rooftops.