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This pain was unbearable! Marinette never thought that the psyche might hurt almost physically. What a humiliation! Now, everyone knew… The worst thing was that Adrien knew… No, there was no chance that she would ever look at him again!
Marinette’s mom had already tried to talk to her many times, but no words brought results. Marinette stuck in her suffering and spent whole days in her room under a blanket. Sometimes Sabine heard her daughter talking to herself that she was guilty because she shouldn’t have let the famous musician into her bedroom. Especially with the camera.
Alya visited Marinette’s parents every day after school, bringing notes and homework. She also tried to talk to her friend, but the door remained closed. The message was always the same: “I’ll never go back to school!” Alya couldn’t convince Marinette that everyone at school had already forgotten about the case of Jagged Stone’s revelations. The closest friends who had known Marinette’s secret tried to deny rumours if there were any new. The rest of the school got bored with the sensation after two days. Only Chloe Bourgeois seemed to be delighted. She was creating new gossips, especially if there was Adrien around her.
But Alya knew that she shouldn’t tell Marinette about that. It wouldn’t help in getting her out. Although… Marinette would be comforted if she knew that Adrien seemed to take it easy. He denied all rumours patiently every time Chloe created a new one. He repeated that he was a model and Marinette was a designer, so there was nothing weird in the fact there were some photos of himself in her room.
There was hope that one day Chloe would get bored. But Marinette’s absence only encouraged her for more, because by hiding from the world Marinette confirmed that Jagged Stone’s guess was true.
But not only Alya was worried about Marinette. Adrien was downbeat as well, though of course he didn’t know why. From the beginning, just after hearing Jagged Stone’s speculation that someone there had been in love with the popular model, he assumed that it wasn’t true. After all, they were good friends with Marinette! It was impossible that she would fall in love with him. He would get known!
“Yeah, sure!” Plagg snorted.
“What do you mean?”
“That you’re so blind in those things!”
“You mean… You mean that… that she is in love… with me?”
“Yep…” Plagg nodded, eating his camembert.
“But… why?”
“Surprising, isn’t it?”
“Plagg… That wasn’t nice…”
“Sorry, kid. I didn’t mean that…” Plagg apologised immediately. “Sometimes I forget that you’re so sensitive in certain matters.”
“Never mind.” Adrien sighed. “I feel so sorry for Marinette. She hasn’t appeared at school since that day. It’s been almost a week! She hasn’t even let in Alya! Someone should tell her that everything is OK. After all… After all, those photos may have rational explanation, right? It was Jagged Stone’s fault. He must have mixed it up. Maybe I’ll talk to her?”
“Alya didn’t make it, you have no chance!”
“So, what should I do?!” Adrien sat on his bed and hid his head in hands.
Plagg looked as if he had an obvious answer but waited for the kid to figure it out on his own. After a while Adrien jumped up from his bed and said with determination:
“She will let Cat Noir in. We’ve already talked several times. I guess she could listen to me if I was Cat Noir, not Adrien.”
“And what are you going to tell her?”
“I don’t know yet. But someone must tell her that everything is all right. So that she come back to school.”
“And why you are so concerned?” Plagg grinned.
“She’s my friend. You know that!”
“I haven’t noticed you were so worried about your other friends…”
“No one else has been so much in trouble.” Adrien cut it off, but the blush on his cheeks couldn’t be unnoticed by his kwami. “Plagg, claws out!”
* * *
Marinette was sitting in her bedroom. She had no more tears to cry. She kept repeating to herself that it was her fault and only hers. She would never let people see her again!
Suddenly she heard some noises on the balcony. Something had fallen there? She jumped up and went upstairs. She froze at the trapdoor. There was Cat Noir standing on her balcony! But… He was different than usual. He didn’t stand in any of his nonchalant poses. No. He was… concerned?
He looked at her sadly. Yes, he could see she had been crying a lot. Poor Marinette.
“Cat Noir?” she whispered surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve heard you don’t go to school. So, I’ve thought I’ll check if everything is OK with you.” He smiled shyly. Completely not in Cat Noir’s style.
“Oh… Thank you… I’m… fine…” she stammered out trying not to cry.
“Somehow I don’t believe you.” He winked.
“Huh, I’m not good at lying, am I?” she answered, looking at him sideways.
“Well… You’re right… You’re not good at it…”
“Thanks, Cat! I can always count on you…” She muttered. “You can cheer up…”
She approached the railing and starred at the darkness. Cat Noir stepped next to her. He didn’t know what he should say. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to remain silent for a while. Maybe Marinette would start talking?
“I think you’re the only one Parisian who doesn’t know…” she sighed.
“Really?” Cat Noir asked surprised. “I’ve always thought about myself as a very well-informed person…”
“Unless you know, but you pretend you don’t know…”
“Now I’m lost. You, girls are so complicated!”
“It’s not true!” she laughed, finally.
“Not true?! There’s no way to understand what you mean. Will you tell me?”
“Oh, Cat…” she became sad again. “That was a disaster!” she exclaimed and hid her face in hands. Cat Noir could see that her ears became red.
“Don’t say that!” he took his hand to stroke her. For a second, he wanted to hug her, but abandoned this idea. He didn’t want to cross the line.
“You have never experienced anything like this! How would you feel if everyone you know saw your room stamped with pictures of Ladybug?!” she asked, still hiding her head in hands.
“I don’t have a room stamped with Ladybug’s photos.” He said calmly. “Even if… Everybody knows that she’s someone special to me.”
“You’re not helping, Cat…”
“I don’t understand why you have a problem with that. A few people saw that you had some pictures of a popular guy in your room. So, what?”
“Not a few, but all I know!” Marinette exclaimed and looked at him quickly. “Even you saw it! I… I can’t look them in their faces anymore. I’ll die…”
“Princess…” Cat Noir sighed. “Don’t take it so seriously…”
“It’s easy for you to say that!” she shouted. “It’s not your reputation that has been ruined. Can you imagine what all of them thought? Oh, God… And what did Adrien think?! Oh, God… I’ll never say a word to him again!”
“But why? Marinette… Why do you think he thought anything?”
“Do you know anything about boys?” Marinette asked sarcastically.
“Well… I’m one of them, so something I may know…” he answered with smile.
“Adrien is not stupid. He had to think something!”
“But why do you think he thought exactly that you think he thought?”
“If you’re so smart, tell me what he could think!” she suggested and Cat Noir grinned. Well, who would know that better than him?
“Have you tried to assume that Adrien thought that it was just a huge misunderstanding and Jagged Stone just jumped to conclusions?”
“No…” she whispered. “I haven’t…”
“You know… That boy is worried about you.”
“Really?” she looked at him in surprise. Had he talked to Adrien? “How do you know that?”
“I know him a bit. Maybe even quite well. He told me.” He muttered. Somehow, he couldn’t lie to her, when she was looking at him like that.
“I don’t buy it, Cat.” She said.
“Believe me, Princess! He is worried. And I know that he’s denied all rumours spread by Chloe.”
“Chloe is a pig!” she muttered, and Cat laughed loudly hearing that.
“In my opinion she’s jealous. For a moment you were more popular than her. I think she would kill for such a publicity.”
“Thank you for that publicity! I’ll pass. And you don’t know her.” Marinette murmured. “She won’t miss an opportunity to tease me. I’m not sure if I was more afraid of meeting Adrien or her… She can be so mean! I… I can’t deal with her.”
“I think you deal with her quite well…” Cat Noir answered with a smile.
“No, I don’t.” she shook her head. “And now you tell me that she’s been spreading rumours about me. Well, I should have foreseen that. Huh… No. I will never go back to school. I’ll ask my parents to move me somewhere else. It’s insufferable!”
Her eyes were tearful again. She couldn’t stop them. Imaging happy Chloe telling Adrien new pathetic details of the story of Marinette's crush was more than she could stand…
He felt his heart bled when he saw her suffer. The only thing that came to his mind was… to kiss her.
He leaned in and kissed Marinette. Just like that. It was a kind of an impulse, but he didn’t think about it temporarily. A moment before their lips met, he told himself it was a friendly gesture to comfort her. But all thoughts left him when they kissed. Actually, he was only feeling. He felt a wonderful joy and... happiness?
The kiss was interrupted by Marinette. She looked at him outraged.
“Cat Noir! What the hell was that?”
He looked dazed at her. Oh, God… What was that? What had just happened? And… Why she was angry at him? Oh, right. He was Cat Noir. He forgot himself for a moment.
”I… don’t know…” he answered quietly. “I wanted to comfort you…”
“Oh…” she sighed. Damn it, the first two kisses in her life and both with Cat Noir! Life was so unfair! She looked at him and touched her lips unconsciously.
Cat Noir wanted to do the same. He still felt the kiss on his lips. Weird…
“Will you go back to school, Marinette?” he asked hopefully after a while.
“I don’t know…” she whispered.
“Please. Do it for…” he stuttered. “… for your friends.”
“I… I have to think about it.”
“Don’t think about bad things, Marinette. You have friends who will support you. They won’t let hurt you.”
“Yes, I know. But… Even Alya won’t protect me from…” she stopped.
“But Adrien will.” He answered with a smile and took a step toward her. Instinctively she moved back, and her hand went to her lips again.
“Adrien?”
“Yes, Adrien!” he laughed. “He will support you no matter what! And all those people will leave you alone.”
“But… Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Trust me, Princess!”
“OK, then.”
“So… Will you come back?”
“I… I guess so…”
“Great!” he grinned. “Mission accomplished!”
“Mission?”
“I was to bring you back to life.” He smiled slyly, acting like classic Cat Noir.
“Oh…” she sighed.
She hoped that was Adrien who had asked Cat Noir for help. Although she wasn’t sure if she liked how it was gained. But maybe… if Cat Noir told Adrien about the kiss, Adrien would feel a bit jealous? No… It must have been Alya who asked for help. She was the one who had been visiting her for the last few days.
“Take care of yourself, Princess!” Cat Noir jumped on the railing.
“I’ll try.” She smiled shyly. “Thank you, Cat.”
“You’re welcome!” he saluted her, grinned, as usual.
“Only… Maybe… Don’t kiss me anymore…” she whispered.
He almost fell off the balcony.
“What?”
“I mean… I’d rather… you wouldn’t kiss me again…”
“You didn’t like it?” he asked in astonishment.
“It doesn’t matter if I liked it or not.” She replied, and he noticed with an unknown hope that she didn’t give a definite answer. “I’d prefer to keep my kisses for… for my special someone. And you’re already taken, remember?”
“Oh, right!” he laughed. “I have to run, Princess. See you soon!”
“See you soon, Cat.”
“See you tomorrow…” he whispered when he reached the neighbouring roof. And he smiled to himself.
* * *
Adrien couldn’t calm down. He was walking around his room, nervously combing his hair. Plagg watched him carefully, eating – as usual – his camembert.
“So, tell me why you did it?” He finally asked Adrien.
“I don’t know. I can’t explain that! And now it bothers me.”
“You fell in love with Marinette.”
“Stop it!” Adrien looked outraged at his kwami. “She’s my…”
“Yeah, yeah… Your friend…” Plagg muttered. “You keep saying that. But somehow I don’t believe you…”
Yeah. Plagg was right. He kept repeating it. Two hours ago, he had been so sure about this. Two hours ago… Two hours ago, he crossed the line. And now everything changed. There was no way back.
“What have I done, Plagg?” Adrien asked and ruffled up his hair.
“Actually, Cat Noir did. You, as Adrien, are clean.”
“But still! I won’t feel comfortable in her company!”
“Well, considering that you can feel uncomfortable after this TV show, when you saw all those pictures…” Plagg began, but Adrien interrupted:
“No! I can’t! Not now! Because she will definitely think that it’s because of those photos! Oh, God… What have I done…”
“Yep…”
“Can you help more constructively, Plagg?”
“There is a very simple solution.”
“What?”
“Kiss her as Adrien.”
“Have you lost your mind, Plagg?!”
“Both of us know that you want it!”
“It’s not so simple!”
“It is! She loves you, you fell in love with her. I don’t see a single problem here!” Plagg summed up, taking another piece of cheese.
Adrien got lost in thoughts and said nothing more.
* * *
It’s hard to say who went to school with a heavier heart – Marinette or Adrien. She wanted to wear a paper bag on her head. He… - well… - he had his head full of thoughts about her. And he still didn’t know how to behave in front of her. Plagg had told him that there was nothing to worry about, because Marinette wouldn’t connect these facts with him, so if Adrien wasn’t going to kiss her as himself, it would be the best to forget about the case.
When Adrien arrived at school, he noticed that Marinette hadn’t shown up yet. He sighed. Disappointment – from all the feelings inside him this one was the strongest at that moment. It seemed that one evening of meditation was too little to overcome the fear of comeback. That meant he wouldn’t see her for the next three days. Monday was so far…
Adrien joined Nino and Alya. She was very concerned, probably with news from Marinette that she wouldn’t come. Well… At least he would be able to visit her again this evening. He smiled to this thought. It wasn’t so bad prospect, after all.
“She keeps ignoring my calls.” Alya sighed.
“I understand her quite well.” Nino said for the hundredth time. “If it happened to me, I would change the school.”
Adrien could tell them that Marinette had had the same plan. He felt shivers when he reminded how close she was to do it. He had already missed her for the last few days. And after yesterday even more… No, he shouldn’t go there. It was too close to… a longing? And something more…
Suddenly they saw her at the gate. For a moment, it looked a bit like the Cinderella’s appearance at the ball. All conversations died down and everyone was staring at her. Marinette looked as though she was about to turn back home. Fortunately, Alya left Nino and walked quickly to her friend. She took her hand and pulled her toward their little group.
Marinette looked down. She could expect Adrien to be one of the first people she would meet in the morning. Cat Noir had said yesterday that Adrien was worried about her. That could mean he’d been spending time with Alya and Nino.
“I’m so glad, you’re here!” Alya whispered.
“Sometimes you just have to face your problems…” Marinette said, moving slightly away from Adrien.
He couldn’t miss that. At the same moment he felt irresistible desire to take her hand. He blushed at the thought of it.
An awkward silence arose. Alya looked at Nino with a desperate question in her eyes – they both felt the growing tension between the other two, but they had no idea what they should do now. All of them had focused their efforts on bringing Marinette back to school. No one thought about the consequences. How could they overcome her embarrassment in their company? Or rather the company of Adrien…
“Would you mind if I talk to Adrien in private?” Marinette suddenly asked, still staring at her own shoes.
They looked at her with astonishment. In her voice they could hear a hint of determination.
“Sure, honey!” Alya smiled and took Nino's hand.
“See ya…” Nino mumbled before his girlfriend dragged him to the opposite corner of the school yard.
Marinette looked up at Adrien. She still had sad eyes. But they were no longer swollen from crying. He felt a relief. But only partial. Because she was still sad.
“I ...” she began and looked down again, and an unbearable blush showed on her cheeks. “I wanted to apologise.”
“Apologise?” he gasped, surprised. “But for what?”
“Well, you must have been hurt too. You know… because of those pictures…” she blushed even more. “And I… I behaved like a coward. I hid in the house and you had to face it. Well, I'm sorry for that.”
“Marinette, what are you talking about?” he grunted, taking her hand. “Don’t apologise to me!”
“I was too scared to come to school.” She continued, staring at his hand clenched in her hand. “And yet… The fact that I wasn’t at school didn’t mean that people didn’t talk. They talked. Only I didn’t hear it. I’m a coward.”
“Stop saying that! I think you’re brave. I… I don’t know what I would do if it happened to me. Probably I would lock myself at home. At least my father would be happy, because he could stop worrying about me.” He joked.
She looked at him briefly with a half-smile.
“Paradoxically, in that case he should start…” she murmured, and he was – again – surprised with her answer.
“But finally, you came. You faced the fear. So, you are brave.” He said.
“Actually… I would never leave the house, but someone helped me…” she confessed. His heart started beating faster.
“Who?” he asked breathless.
“A friend.” She whispered, and her hand went unconsciously to her lips. Adrien felt warmth on his cheeks.
“A friend?” he asked quietly.
“Yes.” She smiled. “You know… He helped me to understand that the whole story hadn’t influenced only my life. And that I have friends I can rely on. At that moment I realised that it wasn’t only me who became the object of gossips. And then I concluded that I should apologise to you. And support you.”
“Marinette, I told you not to apologise to me! What can we do about a musician taking hasty conclusions from several observations? It was unfortunate that he shared these assumptions with the whole world.”
“Uhm… By the way… You know…” Marinette stuttered, blushing.
“Yes?” He asked, and his heart stopped beating for a moment.
“Well, about these conclusions… You know… They weren’t so hasty…” she confessed with embarrassment.
“They weren’t… What?” he stammered, additionally embarrassed by muted croak of Plagg, coming from his bag. He hoped that Marinette would think it was his phone.
“Well… Jagged Stone was right a little…” she said with determination.
This morning she had promised herself that she would end up with burying her head in the sand. If her reputation was in ruins, let it be useful at least a little. It wouldn’t be any worse.
“What are you saying, Marinette?”
“That… As if a bit… I mean… Oh, God! Why is it so difficult?!” she exclaimed with irritation. But she noticed he was still holding her hand. The situation couldn’t get more uncomfortable. “Oh, Adrien… Well… I am… a little bit… likewise… I mean… in love… Uhm… with you. A little.”
Finally! She threw it out of herself. God, what a relief! Now she had to wait out his reaction. He would let her hand, for sure. He could start laughing. Hopefully not. He would say he was very sorry, but they couldn’t be friends anymore. That was the most likely.
He didn’t release her hand. He didn’t burst out laughing. He didn’t say he was sorry or that they couldn’t be friends anymore. Actually, he didn’t say anything. He was looking at her. Flushed. Well, she was blushed too. What an embarrassing situation. For both. Rather obviously…
Suddenly he pulled her closer and kissed her. In front of all colleagues! Alya grasped her heart and whispered to Nino that she could die happy now. And Marinette and Adrien stood in the corner and kept kissing, not hearing the boys' whistling or the girls' sighs.
A school bell interrupted their kiss. The students started moving towards the classes. Marinette looked at Adrien a bit dazed. She touched her lips and suddenly understood.
“No ...” she whispered, terrified.
“What happened?” he immediately returned to Earth from his cloud of dreaming.
“Impossible…” she began to study his face carefully. When her eyes went to his ring, Adrien understood. Oh, God… She recognised him… By a kiss?
“I'll explain everything, Marinette…” he said.
“Oh, God… I have to sit down…” she whispered in a slight shock and flopped into the floor.
He immediately sat down next to her. As if she was about to leave if he didn’t do it. He took her hand.
“Marinette, I’ll…” He tried to explain again, but she suddenly laughed. Loudly. Was it possible that it was a happy laughter? He looked at her shyly.
“Oh, that would explain a lot!” She said when she managed to stop laughing. “I was so worried!”
“I don’t get it…”
“I know. You said that we girls were very complicated!” she reminded him his own words and he could be sure that she had figured out that he was Cat Noir. “You surprised me yesterday! And… Well… I’ve already begun thinking if maybe I fell in love with Cat Noir.” She whispered, looking around if no one was listening. “I’m relieved a bit that the first two kisses I had with you, not with him. I mean, with him, but still with you.”
“Wait… What first two kisses? Who else kissed you?”
“Uhm… You…” She answered and blushed.
“I don’t remember two kisses…”
“Oh…” she clutched her lips. Information about those two kisses slipped out unwillingly. And yet the first one had been… when she was Ladybug… Marinette blushed when she realised her mistake.
“Marinette?” He began with a suspicious tone. “Do you want to tell me something?”
“Oh…” she sighed again, still holding her lips. But words have already flew out of them, and no one had ever been able to turn back time.
“Tell him, because if not, I will do it myself!” Marinette's handbag whispered softly.
“And what about your ‘no one can know your identities'?” Marinette hissed toward the purse. Adrien was just adding two and two and his heart stopped for the second time today.
“No…” he whispered, shocked.
“Er… Yes…” she smiled embarrassed.
“Seriously?” His face suddenly brightened in a smile. “I can’t believe it! It's really great! The best news I ever hoped to hear!”
“Really?” she was surprised.
“You have no idea how happy I am!” He exclaimed and began kissing her.
“Marinette, lessons!” The purse squealed again.
“Leave them alone, Tikki.” Adrien's bag replied to her purse. „Lessons are boring! They still can go to the next one.”
Listening in that conversation, Marinette began to laugh.
“It is totally unrealistic.” She said.
“Why are they so talkative?” Adrien asked.
“It's because we're happy…” Tikki squeaked.
“It's more of a relief ...” Plagg added. “My part-time job as a psychotherapist will be finished, at last.”
Adrien laughed when he saw Marinette's face. Indeed, it had been tough time for Plagg with all those talks about love for Ladybug and friendship with Marinette. In the meantime… Everything was one perfect ensemble. He looked at Marinette with a smile. Yes. Now everything was perfect.