Chapter Text
At first it was just a casual observation. Nino had brought a frizbee to school, and a few people who had stayed behind during lunch were tossing it around. Marinette was enjoying her favourite past time of “Adrien watching” when Kim threw it a little too hard causing the frizbee to get stuck in a tree.
“I’ve got it!” Adrien called out, taking off towards the tree and swinging up from a low hanging branch. Marinette sighed to herself, he was so athletic! She knew he was currently focusing on fencing, but he’d obviously done gymnastics in the past. Oh, just imagine Adrien in one of those tight outfits…
Marinette was jarred back to reality when she heard the gasps of her classmates. Adrien had needed to climb quite high up the tree to retrieve the frizbee, but he must have slipped because he was suddenly plummeting to the ground. Her heart skipped a beat. Before she could even move Adrien twisted around in mid-air, his shoulders moving first and his hips following, to land on all fours.
Marinette clutched a hand to her chest, her heartbeat now racing with adrenalin. The sounds of her relieved classmates washed over her as she eased back into her seat on the bench.
Later, once she had calmed down a little, a thought would come to her. That twisting movement was very familiar. It looked just like Chat Noir landing after he’d lost his footing unexpectedly. Or any cat, really.
But Adrien did heaps of sports, it was probably from some martial art that he had studied.
The next time was all her fault.
Ladybug hadn’t been paying attention. Or she’d been paying too much attention. She’d been concentrating so hard on figuring out where the black butterfly was hiding that she hadn’t noticed one of the laser beams she’d dodged had hit a billboard.
“Ladybug!” Chat called out, already leaping for her as the billboard started to fall. He’d snatched her out of the way just in time to avoid becoming Ladybug and Chat Noir pancakes, but his bad luck came into play and they landed on uneven ground. Chat’s ankle rolled and they both went down hard. The look she gave him was worth it.
“Thanks!” Ladybug was grinning. “You just managed to knock some sense into me!”
With no other accessories to hide in, the stupid butterfly was in the poor guys glasses. It made her feel mean when she broke them. She’d never felt so much like a bully before, but at least her Miraculous cleaning light erased the damage afterwards.
Ladybug walked back to her partner after finishing her part of the job.
“Come on, kitty cat.” Her hand was outstretched to help him up. Chat always looked so happy when she showed him even the smallest kindness, and after saving her from being squashed he really deserved it.
He’d taken her hand, but hissed in pain as he rose to his feet.
“Are you ok?” It wouldn’t be the first time that one of them had been injured, but it was usually just minor things like scratches or bruising.
“I am touched by your concern, my Lady.” Chat slowly shifted his weight into his left foot before wincing and slowly drawing it away again. He looked pale. “I think it’s just a sprain.”
It was always hard to see her partner in pain, but the knowledge that he’d been hurt while saving her made it feel even worse.
“It’s obviously more serious than that.” Ladybug scolded as he pulled his arm over her shoulders so that she could take some of his weight. They slowly made their way over to a bench.
“Stupid cat. What did you think you were doing? I would have moved out of the way myself!”
Chat was visibly startled by the anger in her voice.
“I thought I was saving you, that’s what! I thought you’d be grateful!”
“Not when you put yourself in danger to do it, you idiot!”
Her eyes were suspiciously damp, her expression was pained.
“My lady.” He said gently. “It’s just a sore ankle.”
She knew he was right, that she was overreacting. But what if it had been worse? Just look at him, he couldn’t even walk on his own as it was. He would do it again though, she knew just by looking at him that he didn’t regret his actions. She’d just have to be more careful in the future. If she didn’t need saving, the cat couldn’t hurt himself trying to do so.
“I’m sorry, Chat.” Ladybug eased him down onto the bench. “Will you be able to get home?” Both their miraculous were almost out of power.
Chat gave her a thumbs up.
“I’ll call someone after my transformation wears off. Or,” He grinned. “You could always stay and look after me. Actually, I think you’d look cute in a nurse outfit. Oh! And- Ouch!” Ladybug had tweaked his ear.
“In your dreams, kitty cat.” Her hand stroked his hair and she pulled away. “But I hope your ankle is ok.”
Her yoyo was out and she was swinging away before he could respond.
When Adrien came to school the next day with crutches and an enormous boot on his left foot, he quickly became the center of attention. The whole class listened to his tale about falling down some stairs and being stranded in the park until his driver could pick him up. Chloe was furious and promised to get her father to have the stairs safety checked. It must be a big problem if someone with such great reflexes like Adrien could fall down them!
After offering to collect the materials for him in class, Marinette’s thoughts drifted to Chat Noir. Would he be wearing a boot like this too? And did he have someone to help him like everyone here was so willing to help Adrien?
She looked at Adrien’s injury out of the corner of her eye. What a coincidence that they’d both hurt their left foot on the same day. If the thought of her perfect Adrien being the flirtatious Chat Noir wasn’t so ridiculous, she might have been suspicious.
The third time was only a memory.
Marinette had been flipping through her sketchbook looking for ideas to develop further, when she came across a sketch of the Pidgeon hat.
That was a good memory. Winning the design competition, being praised by Gabriel Agreste, the look on Chloe’s face when she’d been proved a design thief. The only downside had been Adrien’s allergy to the feathers.
But Adrien wasn’t the only one allergic to pidgeon feathers, was he? Chat had been sneezing the whole time that they’d been chasing Monsieur Pidgeon.
She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but wasn’t it pretty unusual to have such a severe reaction to feathers?
These coincidences were starting to make her a bit nervous.
After that, she saw it everywhere.
Adrien’s dishevelled hair after he’d fallen asleep at his desk greatly resembled Chat’s messy style. Not to mention that she was dead tired herself due to Ladybug and Chat Noir being out all night fighting an Akuma again. Marinette wondered what had caused Adrien’s exhaustion.
Chat Noir, to her surprise, could speak Chinese. An Akuma in traditional Chinese dancers clothing had demanded their Miraculous in exchange for the director of a big theatre company. The woman had cursed at them in Chinese when Ladybug had managed to save the hostage, and Chat had responded in kind. Marinette couldn’t help but remember that Adrien spoke Chinese very well for someone with no obvious Chinese ancestry.
She began to see it in their posture, hand gestures and voice. Not to mention Adrien’s terrible attempts at jokes.
Eventually, as she became more convinced that Adrien was Chat, she also became less shy around him. It was difficult to keep Adrien on a pedestal when he started to look an awful lot like her silly crime fighting partner.
Somehow, the realisation that Adrien wasn’t quite so perfect after all didn’t dampen Marinette’s crush. Now that she wasn’t so nervous, it was easier to talk to him and be herself. Sometimes she’d catch herself instinctively responding to his Chat Noir-like body language and acting like Ladybug in return. The look on his face when she’d teased him and been hilarious.
And just as Marinette was discovering new things about Adrien, he was suddenly discovering a whole new Marinette.