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Adrien waited with bated breath as Ladybug gave him a small smile. “Ready?”
“Always, m’lady.”
“3...2...1…”
“Spots off.”
“Claws in.”
They stood staring at each other as the light faded away. The unfamiliar girl in front of him - the girl who was not Marinette - was looking at him with an amused smile, slightly awestruck.
“Wow, who would’ve thought. Adrien Agreste, huh.”
Adrien though, felt his chest tighten. His throat was dry as he watched the girl in front of him, and he couldn’t help but feel stupid. So, so stupid, because he couldn’t believe he’d talked himself into thinking he would know the girl behind the mask.
He had been so sure that the girl behind the mask was his classmate. When he’d started visiting her as Chat Noir, she was so much like Ladybug that he had believed it. He had thought that calling her ‘Everyday Ladybug’ was a happy non-coincidence.
He had been sure that he couldn’t possibly be in love with two girls, so he had decided that they had to be one and the same.
“Bridgette,” she said, extending her hand to him nervously as she shuffled uneasilly on her feet, her easy confidence slipping slightly at his silence.
“Adrien,” he coughed, taking her hand to give it a single, firm shake.
She tilted her head. “I know.”
His hand went to the back of his neck as he grinned sheepishly, trying to quell the sinking sensation in his gut to put the girl in front of him at ease. “Yeah, I suppose my face plastered across Paris helps my case this time.”
“Yeah,” she admitted, before she grinned at him with eyes full of mirth. “And also, I know your cousin. He goes to my school.”
Adrien started, looking at her with wide eyes. “Wait, you’re Bridgette? The Bridgette?”
Bridgette’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure whether you mean that in a good way, or bad way.”
“Definitely good. Felix won’t shut up about you.” Adrien laughed. “Wait… Felix is the other guy, huh?”
Bridgette bit her lip, cheeks flushed as she looked at him pleadingly. “Look, Chat- Adrien, I’m sorry, I didn’t think even in my wildest dreams that you two would be related but… Yeah, I really like him.”
Adrien nodded. “Good, that’s… good.”
“I’m really sorry,” she said miserably.
Adrien shook his head vehemently. “ No , no. It’s… Okay. Really . He… May not show it, but he really likes you too,” he said, giving her his most sincere smile.
Her cheeks flamed. “O-Oh? Um… I-I see. W-Well, that is u--um… Good news? Yep. Good news. And-”
She trailed away, catching sight of Adrien’s wistful smile as he watched. “What?”
“You… Remind me of someone,” he said, smiling sadly as he leaned against the chimney on the rooftop and sank down to the floor.
Bridgette sat next to him quietly. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “A girl in my class.”
Bridgette hesitantly reached out to touch his arm. “Will you tell me about her?”
Adrien was quiet for a few minutes before he smiled softly. “She’s… Really the greatest. The kindest person I’ve ever known, and she’s so sweet that I want to scream into my pillow sometimes. And on exceptionally difficult days, I visit her and she doesn’t ask me any questions. She just… Lets me in, feeds me pastries. Endlessly, actually. No questions asked. Even the first time I visited her as Chat-”
“You what !” hissed Bridgette.
Adrien winced. “Well, she was always nervous around me, and I just… Really wanted to get to know her. I didn’t know any other way.”
“ Chat Noir !” she chided disapprovingly. “You could have seriously endangered her.”
“I know,” he said, looking cowed. “But I swear I’ll protect her with my life. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“Adrien,” Bridgette sighed. “That’s not a good idea. She knows you on both sides of the mask, and that’s dangerous, especially if she figures you out! You can’t keep visiting her as Chat Noir and-”
“No, Ladybug, please ,” Adrien pled. “I swear I’ll be subtle. I’ll think of something, no one will ever know, even you didn’t know until I told you, right? And she’s not told anyone in our class either. And she won’t , I trust her. Please, I don’t know what I’d do without her. I’ll keep her safe, I promise.”
Bridgette was quiet for a few seconds, mentally resolving to scope out the girl for herself and maybe give her a miraculous. She couldn’t let Chat in on that plan yet of course, the boy was too enthusiastic for his own good.
So instead, she said something else. “Sounds like you are in love with her, kitty.”
Adrien sighed. “Yes. Yes, I am.”
Bridgette hummed, chuckling with mirth. “So I suppose you would not love whoever girl is under the mask, huh?”
Adrien smiled sheepishly. “No. I suppose not. Not unless you’re her. I was so sure I was in love with you,” he muttered.
“You do love me, I think. The way I love you,” she said slowly. “The way you love her is very different.”
Adrien snorted. “Well, I have thought about kissing her a lot more than I’ve thought about kissing you.”
Bridgette laughed. “You should tell her.”
Adrien looked at his hands, unsure. “As Chat or as Adrien?”
Bridgette groaned. “ Damn it, I forgot she thinks you’re two different people. I don’t know how you find yourself in messes like this, chaton .”
“Hell if I know,” he muttered. “Can I… Can I tell her?”
“Chat…” said Bridgette warningly.
“I know, I know. I had to try,” he muttered. “She definitely hates Adrien though. She runs away at the sight of me approaching her. She flails like its the end of the world and can’t get out fast enough. I can tell it takes her huge effort to just speak a complete sentence to me.”
“You know,” said Bridgette slowly. “I have a cousin… Who… Well… She’s exactly like that around boys she likes ,” she finished pointedly.
Adrien looked at her sceptically. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want me to pursue her as Chat Noir.”
“ Not true ,” pouted Bridgette. “I watched her talk to him on the phone once, and it hurt just to watch.”
And in a softer voice, she grumbled, “My mom says it runs in the family. I was the exact same way around Felix too. The first few months of meeting him at least.”
Adrien cackled. “Oh, I would love to see that.”
“You would, wouldn’t you,” she said, her nose scrunched. “It was especially scary because he was such a brat .”
Adrien snorted, but refrained from commenting. “You should tell him,” he said instead.
“Maybe I will.” She gave him half a smile. “You should tell your girl too.”
Adrien sighed and looked over at the nightscape of Paris, eyes flickering over in the direction of where he knew the cosy little bakery was. “Maybe I will.”