Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     Marinette was a lot of things. Superhero, class president, Alya’s best friend, nothing really out of the ordinary (well, except for the superhero part, but it felt pretty ordinary to her by now.)

     So she didn’t expect to add Adrien’s girlfriend to that list. As in, Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend. Just the thought of it was enough to make her go weak in the knees, if it wasn’t for the one key word.

Fake. She had become Adrien’s fake girlfriend. It happened so suddenly, she hadn’t been able to even think of turning him down that day he approached her in class with the proposition.

     “Hey, um, Marinette? I know this is kind of sudden and I don’t want to scare you away, but I kind of have a, um, big favor to ask.” Adrien calls out to her, and she sees Alya with a glint in her eye before dragging Nino out of the emptying classroom.  Marinette, being rooted to the spot at the action of Adrien even talking to her after class instead of leaving immediately, nodded silently.

     “Well, there’s been a recent influx of fangirls trying to come onto me recently. A few crazy ones have tried to even break into my house to confess. They won’t stop unless I do something about it and, uh,” The blond blushes until he’s as red as Ladybug. “I was wondering if you could help me by beingmyfakegirlfriend.”

     The girl actually felt her heart stop and she forgets how to breathe. Her mind raced. The inner Alya in the back of her mind shouted at her to do it, say something smooth and take him by surprise!

Instead she says something really smart, “Oh, um, that’s. . . Cool?”

The sight of his face falling made her want to kick herself, and she also blushes a bright crimson and stumbles over her words in an attempt to fix it.

     “No, wait! That’s not what I meant! I-I would love to help you out! You can count on me!” She waves her hands in front of herself frantically, and sighs in relief once he perks up again. Until he pulls her into a tight hug with a grin. Then she feels like she’s short circuited.

     “Thank you so much, Marinette! You’re the best!” He laughs, and she wishes she could smother the butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She sputters out a high pitched ‘Thank you’ and he realizes what he was doing. He embarrassedly pulled away and scratches the back of his head sheepishly. They stare at each other in silence before Alya returns, poking her head through the door.

“Hey, Mari, c’mon! We’re doing that project at your house this afternoon, remember?” The redhead smirks mischievously, and Marinette jumps.

     “Oh, you’re right!” She nods and turns to Adrien with an apologetic look on her face. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?” And she gathers her things and power walks across the room. She’s halted by the boy’s hand on her shoulder.

“Wait, is it alright if we exchanged numbers first?”

She glances up at Alya, who’s face broke out in an excited grin, nods her head frantically and mouthed ‘Do it!’ Marinette smiles shyly up at him, and pulls out a pen and scribbles down her number in pink ink on his hand.  

When the two girls walk out of the room, Alya immediately demands to know what was going on between them, and Marinette obliges. Alya slaps her hard on the back and laughs out a ‘That’s my girl!’ and begins raving about how cute the “couple” was.

     Now, here Marinette was, standing outside her family bakery and hoping that her parents wouldn’t suddenly show up out of the blue to reopen the shop that day and see her dressed up. It wasn’t much, only a plain white dress over a long, navy blue cardigan, but she knew her parents would gush and do their embarrassing oh-my-baby-has-grown-up thing, and the last thing she needed was to be embarrassed before her date with Adrien even started.

     She tenses as she repeats the word in her head: date. She knew it wasn’t really a date, just that Adrien insisted that he should treat her as a thank you gift, but she couldn’t help but think: could this be considered a date? He was her “boyfriend” and even though she was doing it because she couldn’t say no and that it was Adrien and she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart, but it technically was a date, right?

Marinette turns on her phone and texts Alya.

Marinette: Alya i dont think i can do this help

Alya ✌ : GIRL IF YOU BAIL ON THIS I WILL NEVER FORGIVE U

Marinette: BUT ALYA HELP

She hears footsteps and someone calling her name, and she looks up to see the glory that is Adrien, and she begins to shift on the balls of her feet nervously.

Marinette: ALYA HES HERE WHAT DO I DO

Alya ✌: Shhhh my child I will be there w yuo in spirit

Alya ✌: i believe in u

Marinette whimpers and puts her phone up, beaming at Adrien.

     “Sorry to keep you waiting, Marinette. I had a photoshoot earlier today and it was only meant to be an hour long. You didn’t wait long, did you?” He flashes his million dollar smile and Marinette swears that she has to restrain herself from melting into a puddle on the sidewalk.

     “No,no, it’s fine. I didn’t wait for long. In fact, I just got inside- I mean, I- outside.” The girl tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and laughs nervously. “Anyways, should we go?” Adrien nods and gestures for her to follow him down the sidewalk. She eagerly walks after him, nearly tripping over her feet. She decides to graciously ignore her kwammi’s muffled snort in her bag and she trots to catch up.

     Now that she thinks about it, being a superhero still is very unordinary to her. It seemed to interfere at any given moment, no matter how good, or bad, the situation was. So she was glad that they had managed to have a fairly normal lunch date. Adrien had led her to a local cafe located by the school that he sometimes went to during lunch breaks, and they were sitting awkwardly, avoiding each other’s eyes. After what felt like an eternity, a tired looking waitress smiles down at the pair.

“Ah, Adrien! I see you’ve brought a girl,” She wiggles her eyes and he flushes pink, “This doesn’t happen to be the one you talk about all the time to me, is-”

“T-that’s enough, Miss Reine! Can I get the usual, please?” By now he’s red as a tomato. Reine laughs and scribbles it down like she’s done a million times, and turns to Marinette and waits expectantly.

“A gyro, please,” She says and stares down at her hands in her lap. Reine nods and writes down her order, walking off with a dreamy sigh and Marinette swears she hears her mumble “Ah, young love” under her breath. Once again the two are silent, until Adrien speaks up.

“Y’know, Chloe still doesn’t believe that we’re in a relationship,” He stares through the window and watches the people walk by on the street.

     She sighs. “That’s a big problem. She’s pretty much the ringleader of your fanclub, so not convincing her means we’re probably not convincing anyone else.” In all honestly, she’s not surprised. They’ve already been a “couple” for three weeks, almost four, and still no one quite really believed them but accepted it anyways, except for Chloe. After all, they didn’t do much couple stuff anyways. Mostly it was just hanging out during breaks or at Marinette’s after school (in the living room, because there was NO way he could see her room and the posters of him. He’d think she was creepy!)

     In fact, if a stranger watched the way they acted, they’d probably just think they’re a couple of friends just out to eat on a Saturday.Even though they didn’t act like a couple, Marinette couldn’t help but be happy about how sort-of comfortable she was getting near Adrien! She could only barely force out two almost- sentences most of the time, but Alya was starting to rub off on her, putting a bit more of a swing into her shy self.

     They begin to talk about some new show that Marinette couldn’t remember the name of when there’s a loud clatter and the sound of a glass shattering. Reine sits on the floor, covered in soda. Her cheeks are stained red, and her short black hair obscures her face as she carefully picks up the bits of glass. A man sneers at her from his booth, covered in food crumbs as he shouts at her.

     “Honestly, you idiot! How could you do something so foolish! Women, can’t do anything right,” He growls and takes a swig of his drink, and Reine stares daggers at him with her angry brown eyes.

“You tripped me, sir! You’re the one who stuck his foot out while I was walking past, so why are you degrading me so?”

“Pah, don’t be ridiculous! I’d like to speak to the manager immediately about your awful service, or are you going to apologize and behave like a woman should?”

     Adrien stands up and Marinette grabs his arm hastily. She shakes her head as Reine storms out of the cafe with a malicious glint in her eyes, and Marinette’s stomach twists as she watches the woman go.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Adrien states simply.

“Don’t kill him! He’s just a scumbag, he’s not worth it.”

     Adrien gives the man one final glare, but sits back down and drums his fingers on the table and shakes his leg, obviously on edge, for good reason; almost immediately the man rises to leave and is suddenly pinned to the wall with multiple large, spearlike pens. Patrons shriek and flee the scene as a now akumatized Reine laughs evilly, declaring her revenge on those who disrespect the hardworking waiters and waitresses of Paris. Out of nowhere, she pulls out more pens and begins launching them at random. Marinette and Adrien lock eyes and speak at the same time.

“Get out of here.”

“Leave now, it’s dangerous!”

     They nod at each other and run in opposite directions, and when Marinette is out of sight, she hastily darts into an alley and transforms, heading back into the action. Chat Noir has already beat her to it, and is casually dodging the orders she’s scribbling on her notepad and flinging the words at him.

“Ah, my lady! How nice of you to join me!”

“Not now, Chat! I’ve got a date and it’s time to get this over with! I think the akuma may be in her notepad, can you help me get it?”

She doesn’t notice how his eyes widen in hurt and surprise at the words I’ve got a date , but he nods and begins taunting the akuma victim.

     Marinette’s not quite sure how she really beat the akuma, but one large pitcher of water, a torn notepad, and one purified butterfly later, Reine regains her senses and becomes her usual self again, and the cafe is restored to its original form. Chat Noir turns to her, totally forgetting the battle entirely.

“You had a date? Why didn’t you tell me before?” He asks, his shoulders slumped.

“Why would I tell you, kitty? I do have a civilian life after all.”

“Hmph, fine. It doesn’t matter anyways. It just so happens I was also on a date today. What a coincidence, huh?”

“Yeah, yeah, kitty. I’ve gotta get back to him now, ciao!” And with that, Ladybug makes her exit. Once Adrien retreats to the bathroom and detransforms, Plagg snickers.

     “Awww, looks like Ladybug’s got someone special! Sad, isn’t it?”

“Shut up, Plagg.”

“Hey, hey! I wouldn’t be acting like this if you would feed me like, right now. But now that I think about it, doesn’t Ladybug look strikingly similar to Marinette? I mean, they wear the same hairstyle, same blue eyes and black hair. Could that really be a coincidence?”

     Adrien thinks for a moment, but shakes his head. Marinette be Ladybug? It wasn’t that she wasn’t a strong girl, he’s seen her stand up to Chloe on multiple occasions, but he just couldn’t really see it.

Plagg shrugs. “Fine. Can you feed me now? I can hear the cheese calling my name right now. . .”

Adrien exits the bathroom and feels his phone vibrate in his pocket, and checks it to find a series of  messages from Marinette.

Mari: are u ok??? I just got home n wanted to make sure.

Mari: its a shame that we couldnt finish that lunch date, but im sure we can make it up soon sometime!
Mari: BY DATE I MEAN LIKE. AS FRINED S NOT. U KNOW WHAT I MEAN IF YOU WANT TO

     Adrien laughs at the messages, a slight blush dusting his cheeks. He had to admit, Marinette was a very interesting person. That day he walks home with a slight spring in his step, thinking about that possible make-up lunch date.

Chapter Text

     Alya walks into the classroom the next day and begins bombarding Marinette with questions before she even sat down.

“Oh my god, girl, I heard what happened yesterday at the cafe! How’d it happen? Are you okay? Did you by any chance run into Ladybug or Chat Noir?”

Marinette chuckles and smiles apologetically. “Nah, we saw a rude customer get attacked by the akuma so I panicked. Adrien and I ran off in different directions, and I kept running until I got home. By then the akuma was already defeated.”

Alya huffs, but once Adrien and Nino walk in, her usual cheshire grin is plastered on her face as she locks eyes with Adrien’s best friend and nods. Her hand shoots up, and Ms. Bustier acknowledges her.

     “Ma’am, is it alright if I sit up in the front today? My glasses are starting to fail on me, and I can’t see the board from here.”

Marinette meets her friend’s eyes and stares at her with the what-are-you-doing-Alya-oh-no look. The redhead stares back helping-you-with-Adrien-trust-me. Marinette glares Alya-how-could-you-I-thought-we-were-friends. Alya shrugs and taps on Adrien’s shoulder in front of her.

“Do you mind if we switch seats today?”

     “Go ahead,” He nods, and gives Marinette a shy grin as he gathers his things. Alya squeezes past Marinette’s seat and whispers “You’ll thank me later” as she moves up and exchanges a knowing look and a high five with Nino. They planned this all along; Marinette reminds herself to get back at Alya eventually. She rolls her eyes and does her best to ignore her fluttering heartbeat and Chloe’s unrestrained retching sounds as Adrien casually rests his hand on hers throughout all of the first half of classes.

Break finally comes after what feels like an eternity, and it brings Chloe’s foul attitude and harassment with it.

“Well, if it isn’t the Adrien Thief. How did you do it, Marinette?” Chloe crosses her arms and Marinette gives her a blank stare. The blond girl slams her fists on the table.

“How’d you manage to do it? Tell me how you managed to trick Adrien into dating a thing like you?” Marinette hears Alya stride over with a Why, I oughta. . .! and she pulls her friend into the seat next to hers, currently unoccupied as Adrien was chatting with Nino in the corner. Chloe continues.

“Did you blackmail him? Bribe him? Well, not like you’d ever have the money or. . .” She gives Marinette a once-over. “. . . Goods to get him to agree. Your parents only work in a shabby bakery, after all. And just between you and me, and the rest of the planet, I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole.”

This time Alya has to pull Marinette back into her seat, and Nino overhears. He whispers the conversation to Adrien and he walks over.

     Chloe gasps. “Did you. . . akumatize him? You totally did! You used a love akuma on him! This is just like in the Little Mermaid when I, the beautiful Ariel, have to retrieve my stolen voice from the wicked, old hag of a sea witch and-”  

     “Chloe, as much as I hate to burst your bubble, ‘love akumas’ aren’t a thing, this isn’t the Little Mermaid, and Adrien actually confessed to me.” Marinette replies and smiles gently at Adrien, who returns the gesture. Chloe narrows her icy blue eyes as if she was studying the ravenette, and said girl squirmed as Chloe seemingly looks right through her; her eyes drift to Adrien for a moment, and she chuckles darkly. She points a finger at Marinette accusingly.

     “You two aren’t really dating after all, aren’t you?” Chloe smirks and points at Adrien. “This was a huge joke, wasn’t it? Just a facade to make little old me jealous? Jeez, Adrien, I didn’t know you liked me that much, but it’s alright. You don’t have to keep faking it with her anymore. I accept.”

     “What are you talking about? Of course Marinette and I are dating. We wouldn’t be together and calling ourselves a couple if we weren’t,” Adrien retorts, and the rest of the classroom erupts.

“What do you know Chloe?”

“Leave them alone!”

“I think that their love is a very beautiful one.”

     “Really?” The blond looks around the class detestably. “All they really do is hold hands and stand around, and they’ve been together for how long?” The class is quieted. Chloe’s smirk grows. “I bet you haven’t even kissed yet, huh? What a pathetic excuse for a couple!”

     Adrien blushes and attempts to find a reasonable excuse, but Marinette feels a spark ignite a fire in her stomach, burning angrily and growing larger by the second. Her Ladybug personality takes over, and the girl stands up and flashes Chloe a bright, cheeky grin, and before she knows it she leans in and her lips are on Adrien’s.

The class gasps in surprise as they linger there for a moment, and Marinette slowly pulls away. The room is silent as the ravenette stares a livid Chloe down. Beside her, Adrien’s face is tomato red and he’s wearing the same expression of shock as everyone else in the class.

     “Sorry, Chloe. Adrien’s just not good with PDA. Gets incredibly embarrassed, as you can see.” Adrien nods dumbly, still trying to process what happened. Chloe looks scandalized, and she snaps her fingers at Sabrina for her to follow as she stalks out of the room.  

The rest of the class erupts in laughter and applause excitedly, and Marinette looks up at the blond, the corners of her lips twisted upwards in a triumphant grin. Alya laughs and slings her arm around Marinette’s shoulder and waves her phone in front of her face.

     “I can’t believe you did that, Mari! Oh my god, look at this! You can practically see Adrien become at least fifty shades redder! I didn’t know you had it in you!”

Nino slaps her on the back happily. “Me neither, dude! That took a lot of guts! I’m proud of you Marinette,” He fakes a sniffle and wipes away a lone tear that wasn’t there. “Look, Alya! Little Marinette’s growing up. I feel like a dad giving his daughter away.”

Seeing the video playing in Alya’s hands, the realization of what she did sinks in. Ladybug disappears, and plain old shy Marinette is handed back the control.

     “Y-Y-You recorded it?! As in, all of it?! Alya, how could you? A-And you’re no better Nino!” She blushes as red as Adrien, and her voice is a pitiful squeak. She hears Nino laugh and mumble Knew that wouldn’t last long under his breath.

“More like how could you? I’ve never seen you act like that, it was the most un-Marinetteish thing ever! You had the confidence of Ladybug herself!”

Adrien and Marinette both jump, and the girl stumbles over her words.

     “I- um, uh. . .” She sputters and her eyes dart around the room frantically. “I guess I just got excited and Ladybug’s sort of like a role model- well not a role model as in someone that I want to follow in her footsteps, but like in confidence and sorrynotfeelingwellgottagoI’llberightbackbye” And there Marinette goes, a flustered mess dashing off to the washrooms.

Alya and Nino keep replaying the video like it was a sacred treasure. “We’re definitely going to show this off on their wedding day.”

“Definitely.”

     Adrien’s face somehow pales and gets redder at the same time, and Nino doubles over laughing at the expression his best friend was making on the video as Marinette leaned in. Adrien half wishes he could relieve the moment, at least once. Not that he was into Marinette! As he joined in and watched the kiss between Marinette and himself, he couldn’t help but see Marinette’s face get closer to his, and silently agreed with Plagg that she really did look and even acted like Ladybug, just for a fleeting moment.

     That same night, Adrien finds himself as Chat Noir, sitting on Marinette’s balcony expectantly. It wasn’t the first time he visited her. Even with her and his other friends during the school day, nighttime made him somehow even lonelier than he usually was. And he was an outdoor cat.

He’s not sure how long he’s been sitting outside, waiting patiently for her to notice him and open up, but it’s long enough that he begins to wonder if grooming himself while waiting would be considered unethical for a defender of Paris. She eventually does notice, though, and she climbs up and waves to him with a “What’s up, pussycat?”

“Hey, Princess! Just decided to drop in and say hi!” He gives her a crooked grin, and she raises an eyebrow, obviously not fooled by his faux cheerfulness.

“Spit it out, Chat. I can tell something’s on your mind.”

His eyes widen a fraction, but shakes his head. “Nothing’s wrong, Princess. Just thinking recently.” Marinette rolls her eyes and pats him on the head in an attempt to comfort him.

“Spit it out, Chat Noir.”

He purrs a bit and he hates himself for it, but he leans into her touch and takes a slow breath.

     “Well, recently this girl and I, uh, had something going on. She’s doing me a favor, and I didn’t really think much about it. She’s very kind, and she was just helping a friend out.”

Marinette nods and takes it all in, and he laughs to himself that she didn’t know that she was the one he was talking about.

     “We didn’t really pull it off right for a while, and people were starting to get really suspicious, and to throw them off, well. . .” He bites his lip. “She, um, she kissed me. But what surprised me the most is that it was like, an actual kiss. Not just one to keep fooling people.”

He sees Marinette’s muscles tighten, but she continues stroking his hair.

     “And, I think I really like her. As in, a lot, but I don’t want to jeopardize it, y’know? Plus, she seems sorta scared of me sometimes, so I’m not sure how to get close to her like my other friends do with her. She’s so different around them, but I think she hates me. . . ” There it was, he just admitted he was jealous of Nino and Alya being so close to Marinette. But how couldn’t he? Around her, they could actually get more than a few stammered sentences and she didn’t look at them like she was afraid of them, unlike him.

     He hears Marinette stifle a laugh. “She likes you, silly kitty. Why else would she agree, kiss you, and then act like that?” She shakes her head. “Honestly, you’re so dense it surprises me sometimes.”

     The revelation hits him like a ton of bricks. Marinette had a crush on him? Did Marinette just accidentally confess? Does that kind of thing happen? He couldn’t help but smiling Alya’s cheshire cat smile. Before he can stop himself, he grabs Marinette and wraps his arms around her and purrs louder than before. She jumps and tries to squirm out of his touch.

Eventually she realizes that he’s not going to let her go for a bit and she sighs as he rubs his face with hers and buries it in her hair.

“Chat?”

“Mm-hm?”

“What are you doing?”

“Scenting you. Isn’t it obvious?”

She takes his arms from around her and scolds him. “Chat, no! I have a boyfriend, and you’re dating someone! No scenting. That’s weird, okay?”

     His ears droop and he’s aching to tell her that it was her boyfriend that was scenting her, but he holds his tongue. He smiles at her, still giddy when the thought of Marinette actually having a crush on him crosses his mind.

“Ah, forgive me, Princess. Thank you for the pick-me-up, by the way. I’m feeling a lot better. Sorry to keep you up this late, I’ll be heading out.”

     She responds with a “See ya” and he leaps into the night. He returns home unnoticed, and usually it would dampen his good mood, but his only thought is texting Nino about the shocking reveal.

Adrien: NINO DID YUO KNOW MARINETTE HAS A CRUSH ON ME I DIFNT

Nino ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ: YOU DIDN”T KNOW????? LITERRALTY EVERYONE N THEIR MOM KNEW

Adrien: I DITNF KNWO WHY IDNT U TELL ME

Nino ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ: YR HOPELESS WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH U

Adrien: IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!!!!!

Nino ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ: SO ARE YOU /ACTUALLY/ GOING TO ASK HER OUT NOW ME N ALYA ARE DYING

Adrien: MAYBE IM HHHHHHHHHHH

     Adrien is bombarded with the ‘ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)’ emoticon, and he decides to head to bed. When he wakes up in the morning, he can’t recall his dream and doesn’t bother trying. Hastily, he gets dressed and runs out the door, texting Marinette to tell her to wait for him outside her house so he could walk with her to school, and the incredibly quick ‘Yes’ she sends in reply is enough to make his heart flutter crazily.

Maybe he likes her more than he thinks.

Chapter Text

     It’s been a week since the Great Adrienette Liplock (title courtesy of Nino) and Marinette’s sort of confession, and Adrien has been on Cloud Nine ever since. He didn’t really mean to develop any sort of feelings towards Marinette; he loved Ladybug, and he still did, but Marinette had that sort of charm, a smile that left him refreshed and a personality so intriguing that just made him want to know all about her and how she worked. He just didn’t realize what kind of feeling all that could mean until Marinette accidentally gives him the sign that finally shakes him to his senses; he did like Marinette more than a friend.

     Since then, Adrien’s been spoiling his girlfriend- fake girlfriend, he reminds himself- as much as humanly possible. From quick lunch dates to even going as far as surprising her with a ruby pendant. She had refused to accept it (“I can’t take something as gorgeous as this from you!” She insisted) but he snuck it into her bag one day and Marinette had finally given in. It made his heart clench painfully in a good way when she walked into class Monday morning with the ruby resting on her chest. Even if she was only dating him as a favor, he couldn’t help but want it to become an actual, genuine relationship. Nino and Alya noticed the change in behavior towards Marinette immediately, and they agreed that he was completely head over heels in less than two months.

His Cloud Nine is pulled from under him one day in science. Ms. Mendeleiev had announced a new class project, which would be done in partners. The class scrambled to find their friends to partner up with, until she bellowed out every student’s worst fear.

“Get back into your seats! I’ll be assigning partners for this projects, and no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it!”

The class groaned in unison, but all settled down and waited for her to call out her list.

First was Max and Kim. No surprise there.

Then it was Juleka and Ivan. And Mylene and Alix.

Nino and Alya get paired up and high five each other happily.

     Then she paired up Sabrina and Rose. Everyone sucks in a breath, pitying who would get Chloe as a partner. Chloe whines angrily and threatens to make a call to her father if she wasn’t paired with Sabrina in that instant. Ms. Mendeleiv doesn’t bat an eye. Adrien meets Marinette’s eye and smiles in spite of his nervousness. Now there were only four people unpaired: Marinette, Nathanael, Adrien, and Chloe. The blond crosses his fingers and hopes for Nathanael and Chloe to get stuck together, but he feels bad for wishing such a thing onto the redhead.

Unfortunately, his power of bad luck as Chat seemed to have rubbed off on Adrien’s civilian life.

“Nathanael and Marinette.”

     His heart stops. Oh no. Ohhhhh no. Chloe practically screams in delight and rushes over to give Adrien a much unappreciated hug. The entire class stares sadly as if they were at Adrien’s funeral. Well, except for Nathanael. He had a happy gleam in his eye, obviously glad that he wasn’t the one everyone was pitying. Adrien, as calm and composed as he usually was, wanted to clock him. Not that he was jealous, though. Nope. Not a bit.

The bell rings and everyone gathers their things hastily.

     “Remember, you have two weeks to get this done and I expect it turned in no later than then!” The teacher calls before returning to her desk. Chloe begins to swoon and insists that getting Adrien as her partner was fate, and that Marinette’s love akuma (honestly, couldn’t she let it go?) was starting to break under her “irresistible looks”. Adrien looks at Marinette and wonders if she wanted to clock Chloe almost as much as he wanted to do the same to Nathanael.

     Speak of the devil , Adrien thought as he heard Nathanael begin striking up a conversation with Marinette about the project, and he hears her laugh at one of his jokes. Nino slings his arm around Adrien’s shoulder nonchalantly, but he knew it was so he could keep Adrien from standing up and slugging Nathanael.

“Chill, dude. It’s just a project. Marinette’s gonna be fine.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not stuck with-” He jabs his thumb in the direction of Chloe, who was reenacting the Little Mermaid behind him. “And it’s so obvious he’s crushing on her! What if she decides she wants to date him instead?”

“Funny how you notice his crush on her before you even think that you have one.”

Adrien blushes, but pouts and doesn’t say anything else. Nino laughs and slaps his friend’s shoulder.

“Take it easy, man! Everything’s going to be fine, just trust me!”

Adrien nods to get Nino off his back, but can’t help but feel the jealousy seeping into his bones when she smiles her billion dollar smile at Nathanael as he leaves the room.  

     The next few days have already pushed Adrien to the point of wanting to slam his head into the lockers a million times. Chloe has no progress on her half of the project, insisting that spending their study sessions planning out an imaginary wedding between the two of them or flipping through magazines while Adrien does all the work. What’s worse, it’s almost impossible to even get ahold of Marinette after school. She and Nathanael had been working at her house every day since they were assigned as partners, and she had begun spending more time with Nathanael than her own boyfriend. Unbelievable. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say he felt neglected.

     So instead he takes it to transforming and supervising their work from Marinette’s balcony as Chat Noir. Does he hate himself just a little bit for it? Maybe, but he still waits until Nathanael to go home every evening before he dashes off to meet Ladybug at their usual meeting spot before patrols. After all, he wasn’t really doing anything wrong, was he? He was only trying to be a caring boyfriend and make sure that she would be okay with another guy in her room. Working. Alone. But he still wasn’t jealous! No way he’d be jealous!

Eventually Chloe becomes exasperating and he just finishes the project by himself. On the bright side, though, it means he can drop in to watch Marinette and Nathanael work.

     One night, though, Marinette notices him. Nathanael casually leaned over and put his arm nervously around her shoulder while they were working (Marinette was leaning over the desk, though and didn’t notice) and she felt someone’s eyes boring into her back. Once her partner leaves, she glances up momentarily and does a double take as she sees a flash of blond and a pair of cat ears dart away from the window. Hastily, she opens up the trapdoor leading to the balcony and finds Chat attempting-and failing- to act nonchalantly. Marinette sighs and scrunches up her nose is what is supposed to be an angry look, but it somehow makes her cuter and he restrains himself from taking her into his arms and scenting her again, just to get the message to Nathanael. Not that he’d really do anything though. He wouldn’t even be able to tell, with his ordinary sense of smell.

“Normally this is when I go ‘What’s new pussycat’ but what are you doing? Or to be more precise, what are you hiding?”

“Hiding?” Chat pretends to be wounded by her accusation. “I’m not hiding anything. Just wanted to stop by and chat -” She groans. “-But there was some other guy already here when I arrived, so I was waiting him out.”

“Really? You risked him seeing you on my balcony just to drop by? What if we came up here and he saw you? Did you even think of how something like that could be explained? ‘Oh, yeah, that’s just the superhero that defends Paris and sometimes he comes over to hang out, crazy huh?’ It doesn’t work like that!”

His ears droop. “I just missed you is all. . .” Chat mumbles. “I’ve noticed that he’s been coming over a lot and we haven’t seen much of each other often.”

     “Often” is an understatement. They haven’t actually talked, as either Marinette and Chat or Marinette and Adrien in at least a week and a half. Not like he was counting. It just drove him crazy. And seeing Nathanael attempt an intimate gesture on his girlfriend made the urge to slug him even harder to resist. He wonders if hitting an innocent civilian as Chat Noir would damage his reputation.

     Marinette’s eyes soften. “Hey, I’m sorry, alright? I’ve just been working really hard on this project recently. Nothing’s wrong, Chat, and I promise to start hanging out with you a little more to make up for it.” She scratches under his chin just the way he likes it, and he purrs, shedding what little of his dignity he had after being caught red handed. Then she sits by his side and gazes up at the Eiffel Tower’s silhouette standing tall above the city. Instead of taking in the view of the tower, he studies Marinette’s face, illuminated by the city lights, and he can’t help but see Ladybug, proud and confident Ladybug, in her facial features and something tugs at his heartstrings like it was trying to get him to connect the dots.

     He wishes they could’ve stayed like that forever, but a faint beeping comes from his ring and he looks down; only the paw pad left. His ears flatten against his blond locks in disappointment, and he would give anything for Plagg to just recharge himself in the ring so he could have a little bit more time with Marinette. She sighs and pats his head and nods.

“Go on, Chat. You’ve gotta go, or you’ll revert back to your true identity. We can’t let that happen, can we?” She smiles, and he almost wants to say we can. Instead he nods and breaks off into a sprint, leaping off the building and into the distance, where the lights shining in the night obscure him from her vision.

That night he gets back home, unnoticed again, and checks his phone immediately. One message from Marinette, and another from Nino.

Marinette: Sorry for not paying much attention to you recently!! I know its kinda unfair but Nathanael and i are already done so if u want we can maybe walk to my place together tmorrow? if u want i mean i dont wnna pressure you into it haha

Adrien: oh my god pls

Marinette: aaa okay!! Ill see u tomorrwo adrien!!

He smiles dreamily and opens Nino’s message.

Nino ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

     His dreamy smile is gone and he chuckles as he sends Nino a lone middle finger emoji, and continues to text Marinette, having a conversation about something silly that gets so off track he can’t remember what it was about. Nino sends the ‘( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)’ a couple more times, and it’s already almost 2 a.m. once he finally checks the time. Adrien yawns and his final thought before drifting off was Marinette.

     That next Friday the projects are turned in and Adrien is finally at peace. No more Chloe, no more Nathanael, and more Marinette to himself. He walks into class in the best mood he’s had in two weeks, and Marinette, Nino, and Alya stop talking when he enters the room and sits down. He hears Marinette fail to stifle a giggle and he turns to face her, tilting his head in confusion. The ravenette mouths Nino told me and suddenly the room is a thousand degrees and he can almost feel his face glowing in embarrassment.

During class, she passes him a note and he opens it to find her cute, neat handwriting.

So you were jealous of Nathanael this entire time?

He rolls his eyes and writes back, stealthily passing it behind him for her to take.

Maybe. I just missed you, is all. With a small drawing of a cat that brings a smile to her face.

How sweet. Hey, wanna hang out after school? My mom recently tried a new recipe and she wants to know if you want to try it.

He writes back Gladly and the teacher finally interrupts them.

“Miss Cheng, Mr. Agreste, if you’re so eager to talk that you can’t wait until after class, then you don’t mind sharing your conversation with the rest of us, do you?”

     The rest of their classmates snicker, and the two shake their heads; Adrien slips the note into his pocket and nods at Marinette. She gives him a thumbs up and they return to paying attention to the lecture, and Adrien keeps glancing at the clock, counting down the seconds to the final bell.

Chapter Text

     Dating the boy she had a crush the size of Paris on was supposed to be the best thing that happened to her in her sixteen short years, right? After all, she had spent the past two years watching him and thinking that he was unattainable, so far out of her reach, and here she was, spending lazy afternoons with him in her room (the posters and photographs hidden deep in her closet and her desktop’s wallpaper changed to a selfie of her and Alya that she liked) or walking the city streets with their fingers casually intertwined. She was happy.

She was happy, or as content as she could be when she knew that it wasn’t an actual relationship, but an arrangement to help out her friend. He didn’t return her feelings, not even Ladybug could be that lucky. So why couldn’t she just continue with the way they were now?

     Marinette, as much as she wanted it to continue, knew it couldn’t. She had kissed him in the middle of a class without even thinking, and since then, Adrien had been acting strangely. He’d ask her to go out to the cafe every now and then as a treat (except with significantly less akumas and more of a happy Reine.) She didn’t mind and just thought of it as a few extra thank you’s. Until the necklace. Oh god, the necklace. He insisted that she’d have it, despite her stubbornness and refusing to accept it. Seeing it in her bag with a small note reading ‘ I’m not taking it back. It’s all for you, Mari’ , she gave in and began wearing it almost constantly, trying to smother the overwhelming guilt.

     She didn’t deserve so much for trying to keep her friend from being stalked by random girls on the internet, right? It was only a favor. So why had he showered her with gifts and affection, and gotten jealous because she was doing a project with Nathanael? Sure, he was paired with Chloe of all people, but he seemed sort of cold towards Nathanael, and even protective of Marinette. She couldn’t wrap it around her head.

     The ravenette sighed in frustration as she tries to give their relationship status a label? Dating? Fake-dating? Friends? How did having a fake boyfriend work? The girl screams into her pillow, hearing Tikki’s muffled laugh. She sits up and looks at the kwammi skeptically.

“And what exactly are you laughing about?”

“I don’t know,” The small deity shrugged in between giggles. “Just that you’re sorta overthinking it. Honestly, humans can be so funny about that sometimes.”

“Hey!” Marinette protests. “I’m not overthinking it! If anything, I’m underthinking it!”

“Marinette, if you really want to know what’s going on in Adrien’s head, just ask him! You already have his number and everything, so plunge in!”

     The girl rolls her eyes at the kwammi’s absurd suggestion. Lazily, she rolls over onto her stomach and tucks the pillow under her chest.  “You know I can’t! It took me forever just to gather the courage to say hello to him before we were dating! And how are you suddenly a love expert?”

“Over five thousand years old, remember? When you see as many lovesick Ladybugs as I do, you sorta become the expert.”

     Marinette sighs again. “Even if I did ask him- which I’m not going to do- what happens if I screw it up? What if he’s really been looking for the perfect time to ‘dump’ me? And then the next day Chloe finds out and starts laughing at me and before I know it i’m the laughingstock of the class? I’ll never be able to show my face to anyone again.” She buries her face into her pillow, pausing for a moment before adding, “. . . Or watch the Little Mermaid again.”

Tikki laughs again, but Marinette’s too worried to glare at her and instead rolls off the sofa and onto the plush pink floor.

“It’ll be fine, Marinette. You’re Ladybug remember? She’s not a different part of you, she is apart of you, and you share the same courage and brave heart. If anything, you should be more worried that he’ll be the one tongue-tied.”

Marinette furrows her brow. “Why do you say that? Adrien wouldn’t be nervous around me. Unless. . .” She gasps. “Unless he’s afraid that I’ll want to back out and tell everyone!”

Tikki’s the one that lets out a frustrated sigh, and she pats Marinette’s face sympathetically.

“Marinette, you’re as dense as Chat Noir.”

“Am not!”

“You can’t even tell that the guy you’ve been interested in for two years has started to return your feelings! Wait, I was wrong- You’re somehow even more dense than he is!”

Marinette’s entire body goes rigid and her face pales. “Wait, how do you know Adrien l-likes me?” She stumbles over the word. Tikki gives her a knowing smile.

“It’s so obvious, silly! Even Nino and Alya can tell that you’re both head over heels, you just haven’t noticed because you’re both too busy pining to see the truth if it slapped you in the face! And besides that, I have my ways,” Her antennae twitch, “To detect high levels of human emotion. You don’t have that power, though. So just look for the signs.”

Marinette, not satisfied by her answer, groans irritably and wonders why her civilian life was suddenly much harder than her superhero life.

      The next day, Adrien walks her to school again and Marinette, despite being a nervous wreck, takes Tikki’s advice and studies the blond carefully. She sees the same Adrien as always, but she notices a slight change in behavior. Like how he immediately took hold of her hand when they met up and how close together they were walking. He bit his lip, as if he was on edge, and she can’t help but think it’s absolutely adorable.

     They’re comfortably quiet as the pair walks slowly down the road. Marinette watches the pigeons in front of them strut down the sidewalk, before hastily moving out of their way with a shrill squawk. She laughs airily and Adrien’s fingers tighten around hers. The air suddenly feels tense and it's like everything else has frozen in time. Marinette looks up at Adrien, who stared at her as if she was the center of his world. His brilliant green eyes capture her gaze, and she finds herself getting lost in them, giving him the perfect opportunity to surprise her for once and closes the distance between them, pressing his lips against hers. She squeaks, and the blood rushes to her face and her heart is pumping so fast she's afraid it'll give out on her.

     Before, on that day she initiated the kiss, she was so eager to prove Chloe wrong and salvage their fake relationship- she still wasn’t sure if it was actually fake by now. She wasn’t exactly given a handbook on this kind of thing- that she pulled him in without a second thought, and she really didn’t take the time to memorize everything about him. Now, she had plenty of time, and there wasn’t anyone around to stir up trouble.

     Now she felt how soft his lips were and how his hands timidly rested in hers, not daring to place them on her hips. She overcomes her astonishment, and the girl finds herself throwing her arms around his neck and she weaves her fingers into his hair, smiling against his lips as she tries to lean in for more hungrily. His hands, no longer timid, reaches for her waist and he holds onto her like she was his lifeline. The feeling is familiar, like she’s kissed him a long time ago but she can’t put a finger on exactly when.

She’s not sure how long they were kissing, but she finally comes to her senses, remembers hey, I have to breathe and hesitantly pulls away. They watch each other for a moment, unsure of what to do next. Then Marinette’s phone vibrates and she flashes him a sheepish grin and checks her phone.

Alya ✌: whre are u??? class started like 5 mins ago

Alya ✌: OOOOO WAIT NVM YR W/ ADRIEN ARENT YUO

Alya ✌: little mari skippign w her bf im gonna cry

Nino(*＾-‘): haha gay

Marinette huffs, amused by the message until she realizes what time it is.

Class did start five minutes ago. Whoops.

Hastily, she grabs Adrien’s arm and begins running in the direction of the school, laughing all the way there. They both get scolded for being late, but as they both settle down into their usual seats, the only thing either of them can think is how worth it that morning was.

     Later that night, Chat’s leaping onto her balcony again like they always did, but this time Marinette’s waiting for him outside. And she’s thinking. He could see the crease of her brow and her thoughtful frown. He jumps onto the railing and sits on his haunches, and she breaks out of her dazed state and gives him a small wave.

“Is something wrong, Princess?”

“No, not really. Just thinking.”

Chat tilts his head, and he can feel his heart hammering in his chest.

“Y’know I’m here for you, Princess. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

Marinette bites the inside of her cheek, but nods and takes a slow breath.

     “So, you remember when you told me about what’s going on with your girlfriend?” He nods. “Well, I’ve actually gotten into the same situation. And recently, well, it feels too real to be just a helping hand. Very real.” He sees her blush in the lights of the city and his heart skips a beat, and it makes him want to howl in joy knowing she was blushing because of him.

“But I’m not sure what to do. I mean, it’s so nice being like this and I absolutely love it, but is this really right? I-I mean, we’re not actually dating, so is this really how we should be acting?”

Chat’s heart skips another beat for an entirely different reason.

“You really like him though, don’t you?”

She nods frantically. “Yes! I like him so much it hurts, and I don’t know if this is really fair to either of us, but I don’t want it to be over.”

“What if it became an actual relationship? Would it be fair then? Just ask him out for real, and it’ll be fine, right?”

Marinette groans and puts her head in her hands, leaning against the railing.

“Everyone’s telling me that! But I like him so much and I’m just now starting to form actual sentences around him and what if I jeopardize that? I don’t want him to hate me.”

The words slip out of his mouth before he could stop them. “Don’t be silly! I could never hate you, Mari.”

     Her eyes widen, and he realizes what he just said. Before she can say anything, he’s already leapt off the railing and into the streets, fear stirring adrenaline in his veins praying Please don’t let her realize my mistake what if she somehow finds out oh no.

It was such a small thing, it couldn't hurt anything, right? He spends the rest of the night wondering if he could somehow fix it without tipping Marinette off. Unfortunately for him, he can only make things worse. And his bad luck is just about to reach its peak.

Chapter Text

     The first thing Adrien sees when he wakes up from his dreamless sleep is Plagg, floating overhead with quite possibly the largest grin he’s ever seen. He can already tell his day is going to suck.

“Wow, Adrien! Y’know, I’ve seen plenty of Chat Noirs that were pretty unlucky, ‘cause hey, that’s part of the job, but never this unlucky! Not only were you so cheesy even I couldn’t stand it, but you basically just told her your true identity!” The kwammi throws his large head backwards and laughs. “This might not even be unluckiness! You could just be a huge dope!”

Adrien throws a pillow at him and it misses.

Before he can actually act on his anger in his half-dazed state, he hears Nathalie knock on the door and tells him to get dressed for school, and walks away from the door without another word. He sighs and unenthusiastically rolls out of bed. But not before taking another pillow and throwing it at Plagg, and this time he doesn’t miss.

      When he slips out of the limousine, his eyes scan the courtyard and immediately land on Marinette, who was having a very animate conversation with Alya, his presence unnoticed. Panic grips him, and he quickly walks towards the school’s entrance. He almost walks in without attracting any attention, until Nino arrives and shouts his name. Very loudly. Across the entire courtyard. The boy glances at Marinette, who’s expression is unreadable, but the bags under her eyes tell him she hasn’t caught a wink of sleep. She observes him at the top of the stairs, and turns back to the redhead and continues their conversation without another glance. Ouch, that stung.

Nino jumps up the steps three at a time, readjusts his headphones, and greets his friend.

“Hey man, you alright?” Adrien doesn’t answer, his green eyes fixed on Marinette making obscure hand gestures as she talks, and he ponders of a way to get her to look over at him again.

Nino, confused for a moment, turns his head to look in the same direction as Adrien, and the realization of what was going on hits him. The boy turns back to Adrien with the most serious expression he’s made in his entire life.

“She knows, doesn’t she?”

Adrien gapes at his best friend, staring at him in astonishment before feigning innocence.

     “What do you mean? What does she know?” Adrien avoids Nino’s eyes, which are studying him as carefully as he does when he’s debating over which new video game he wants to get. Yep, Nino was as eerily serious as Gabriel Agreste himself.

“C’mon, dude. I know you’re hiding something.”

Adrien, a bright, faux grin plastered on his face, rubs his sweaty palms on his jeans as casually as possible. Suddenly the years of modeling and practicing the perfect expressions pay off, because the smile he’s giving Nino can fool anyone into thinking he was actually cheerfully ignorant. Except for Nino.

“I don’t- I’m not hiding anything!”

     “Everyone in class can tell, bro! It’s so obvious!” Adrien’s heart leaps into his throat, and he realizes that he’s been found out. So much for a secret identity, emphasis on secret. He might as well stop wearing the mask and put on a shirt that read I AM ADRIEN AGRESTE every time he transformed. Hesitantly, he accepts his death sentence and nods.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, huh?” Nino grins and pulls the blond into a headlock, gives him a playful noogie, then releases him.

“So now here’s the million dollar question: are you gonna tell her?”

Adrien shrugs. “I dunno. She seems kinda mad right now. I really want to soon, though.”

Nino pats him on the shoulder. “Then she’s probably only figured it out herself,” Adrien stares at him like he’s just given him the advice of a shaman. The bell rings sharply and echoes through the campus grounds, and Nino waves at him to go on ahead.

“Don’t worry, dude. If she does reject you, you’ll still be friends. You gotta tell her how you feel though, ‘cause I think Nathanael’s still got his eye on her.”

Adrien raises an eyebrow, ignoring the anger building in the pit of his stomach at the thought of Nathanael professing his love for his Princess. “What are we talking about again?”

“C’mon, don’t play dumb! Everyone knows that you’re crazy about Marinette.”

     Oh, Adrien thinks. Looks like he won’t need that shirt after all. He feels like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders, and a genuine smile graces his features as he walks in the direction of the classroom. Nino stands outside the main entrance patiently, glancing over at the two girls still engaged in conversation, waiting for Alya to dismiss her friend. Marinette walks past him and gives him a tired half-smile, and he returns it with a nod and a blinding grin. Alya hops up the stairs to join him, and they slowly make their way to class, speaking in hushed voices.

“How’d it go with Adrien?”

“He was suspicious, but I played it off by saying I was talking about him and Marinette and he believed me. How about you?”

“As smooth as it could go.”

Nino nods. “Good. Honestly, we’re friends with the most obvious people on the planet.”

“You’ve got that right,” Alya snickers. “Did either of them really think they could both keep secrets as big as they are and get away with it? We would’ve found out eventually.”

“Exactly!” Nino shouts, and Alya flicks his forehead and holds a finger to her lips. “Right, sorry,” Nino lowers his voice again. “But how do we get them to patch everything up?”

     “Well, Marinette told me about a certain cat that drops by sometimes in the evenings,” Nino’s eyes widen and Alya flicks him again. “Not like that! They just sit out on her balcony and talk for a while. It’s nothing to be worried about. If we could find a way to get them to talk, it could be sorted out. But they need some time first. Barging into their love lives, as totally frustrating as they are, isn’t cool.”

Nino nods again, and they both take their respective seats as they entered the classroom, attempting to continue their plan over secret texts in class.

✹Nino✹: So how r we gonna do this how long do we let thm suffer

Alya☠: until they start complaining to either of us abt their ~unrequited feelings~ or smth

✹Nino✹: lmao tht wont be long then adrien was already looking at her thsi mornign like he was dyign

Alya☠: same w mari tbh she wont stop talking about him

Alya☠: I say give it a week tops

     Alya snickers and glances over at Adrien, who, now that she was paying attention, was stiff and his back was straight as a board, obviously using every ounce of willpower to not sneak a look at Marinette, who was doing the same. Geez, for Paris’s number one superhero team, Alya would think they actually had at least half a wit between them. She couldn’t be more wrong.

The teacher glances at Alya suspiciously, and the girl shoves her phone into her pocket and looks at Marinette’s class notes, and she grins cheekily when she sees the scribbles of black cats in the margins.

     Marinette wonders what on earth she could’ve done to deserve such an incredible mess dumped onto her. She attempts to copy the notes she needed on the board, but she immediately returns to the night before, still fresh in her mind.

“I could never hate you, Mari.”

     The girl sighs and sets her pen down, and begins to ponder his words. Maybe he was just trying to comfort her? Could he have meant that Adrien would never hate her? She wanted to believe it was just her being ridiculous, but somewhere in the back of her mind disagreed. Frustrated, she rests her head on her hands and stares at the back of the boy in front of her, as if he would somehow give her an answer.

It can’t be him right? I mean, yeah they DO look the same but- oh man they look exactly alike now that I think about it, it HAS to be him. No, that’s just crazy! There are so many people in Paris with the same perfect blond hair and shining green eyes. . . It’s him! Wait, what am I even saying? It’s Adrien Agreste, my classmate, there’s no way he and Chat are the same person. But what if. . . Oh my god it’s him. But no that’s. . .!

Marinette groans loudly, and the entire class turns to face her. The teacher, obviously not happy with being interrupted, puts her hands on her hips and looks up at Marinette sternly.

     “Miss Cheng, if you’re so bored with this lesson that you have to express your distaste, then why don’t you teach the class?” The ravenette blushes and shakes her head, mumbling a quick apology and suddenly decides her notes are the most interesting thing in the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Adrien’s eyes lingering on her before he turns around and focuses on the lesson. Marinette bites her thumb nail and glances at the clock, eagerly waiting for the time to make her escape.

     After an eternity of French Lit., the bell welcomes the lunch period and Marinette hastily shoves her things into her bag and walks out of the class, forcing herself to look forward and not in Adrien’s direction. As she walked down the hall, she hears a pair of footsteps running behind her, and she prays that her good luck would grace her in that moment, that it would be anyone but him.

Tikki, despite being the literal essence of good luck, did not in fact grace her. Marinette makes a mental note to only bake Tikki oatmeal raisin cookies for the next week.

“Hey, Prin- MARINETTE! Marinette,” Adrien corrects himself and beams at her, but she could see his tense muscles and the cheerfulness of the smile didn’t make it to his eyes; he was watching her fearfully, and she restrained herself from patting his head to comfort him. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing much, Adrien. Are you alright?” Marinette responds, cautious as she approached the conversation.

“O-Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You sorta seem. . .on edge.”

“Me? On edge? Pfft, I’m probably the calmest person I know!” Adrien fakes a laugh. “Anyways, I was wondering if you, uh, wanted to hit the cafe for lunch? Reine asked if we could drop by again, so I was just asking ‘cause, y’know, I-we’re-” He clears his throat. “Y’know.”

“I- um, sorry, Adrien, but I’ve gotta help out my parents with the bakery. They just called the school to let them know I had to leave early, so I’m. . . Leaving. Right now gotta go bye!”

She rushes out of the school before Adrien can protest; when she finally gets home, she wants to kick herself.  Tikki phases out of her bag with a smug, un-Tikki-like smile, and Marinette sorta wants to kick her too.

“How long is this gonna keep up?” The kwammi asks.

“Oh my god Tikki it’s him. Chat and Adrien- Adrien and Chat are the same person. They are the same right?” Marinette tugs at her pigtails, her mind racing.

“You’ve finally found out?”

“You knew?!”

“Of course. His kwammi and I are tied together in a way, being the good and bad luck elements, so we can detect each other and the miraculouses. We’re just not allowed to interfere.”

Marinette grabs her bag, opens it, and screams.

     A week passes, and Marinette finds herself sitting on her balcony, the same as every night since Chat’s last visit. He hasn’t appeared since, and even though she saw Adrien every day, Marinette purposely avoided him. After all, what was she supposed to say? ‘Hey, Adrien! I know you’re Chat Noir! Anyways. . .’

Yet she kept finding herself sitting in the chilly Paris air, waiting for the cat to arrive. It was a Friday night, so she allowed herself to stay up and wait a little longer. She waited patiently as the hours ticked by, alert and eyes peeled in hopes that he would show up.

     Finally, she yawns and checks her phone, the light straining her eyes as it blinked 2:30 A.M. The girl hung her head and tightened the polka dot blanket around her, and stands up, ready to turn in.

As she opens the trapdoor, the familiar thump of someone leaping onto the roof echoes behind her. Marinette eagerly spins around, shutting the door, and sees Chat Noir standing on the other side of the balcony.

“Miss me, Princess?” He flashes a toothy grin at her.

“Where have you been?” Marinette asks.

“Just busy patrolling with Ladybug, that’s all. I haven’t been able to drop in, so I decided to skip patrols tonight. Keep it a secret from Ladybug, though, okay?”

Marinette immediately knows he’s lying. They haven’t patrolled at all in the past week.

“Chat.”

     Her stern gaze wears him down, and his ears droop as he slumps his shoulders. The pink dusting his cheeks contrasts with the dark material of his mask, and she can see the belt behind him swing anxiously.

     “. . .I’ve been thinking recently, and I finally made up my mind.” His green eyes are serious and determined as he looks into hers. The intensity of the gaze makes her want to squirm, but she stands transfixed as he takes a step closer.

“I want to show you who I really am under the mask, if you let me.”

Marinette’s breath hitches, and she studies his face for any sign that he was joking, but she couldn’t find one.

“Chat-”

“I know i’m putting everything on the line right now, but since last week, I feel like I have to. I still love Ladybug,” Marinette bites her lip to prevent herself from speaking out. “But it’s nothing compared to how strongly I feel about you. Please, let me show you.” His voice is pleading, and she pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Princess?”

She doesn’t say anything, but she nods. Chat grins, and he takes a deep breath, grabs Marinette’s hand, and speaks.

“Plagg, claws in.”

A flash of green forces her to shut her eyes, and she keeps them closed as Chat squeezes her hand. Why was she hesitating? She already had her suspicions, so this would just prove her right.

But what if it didn’t? What if Tikki was wrong? She thought. What if it wasn’t Adrien after all? What would she do then?

“Marinette, please open your eyes. I want you to see.”

     She stubbornly refused, squeezing her eyes shut. Chat makes a displeased noise, but then she feels his lips on hers for a fraction of a second, and the familiar feeling sends shock waves up her spine; Marinette’s eyes snap open, and she almost wants to weep in joy.

Adrien stands in front of her, practically glowing in the city lights. His face, though nearly obscured by the darkness of the night, is stained with a blush that she could barely see. Marinette’s heart feels like it’s about to burst, and she tries to search for the right words. Sentences dart in and out of her mind, from I’m so glad it’s you to  I love you so much it hurts.

Instead, she says, “I knew it.”

Adrien is taken aback, but laughs. “I was pretty obvious last time, huh? I might as well have told you then.”

Marinette has so many questions for him, but instead she beams at him and throws her arms around him happily.

"I love you, Mari."

"I love you, too. Now c'mon. It's cold outside."

The next day they walk into class, talking like nothing had ever happened. Alya and Nino high five each other, basking in their success as the couple stared in confusion.

Chapter Text

     Storm clouds hung low, casting Paris into a cold, calm atmosphere. Marinette gazed out the window, her gaze fixed on the gray sky. Unable to focus on her schoolwork, Marinette leaned backwards in her chair and stared at the bubblegum pink wall, thoughts swimming through her mind. Her phone buzzed insistently, flooding her notifications.

I guess this is where the bad side to dating Adrien comes in, she thought.

      Despite a pleasant four months full of affection, there were still insistent fans; Marinette didn’t blame them, they were kids after all, right? They’re just being dumb, making mistakes was a part of growing up.

      However, commenting malicious things on her posts, sending her death threats- that was something Marinette couldn’t help but be upset about. As much as she loved Adrien, the amount of hate and anger directed towards her for dating him was overwhelming.

      A clap of thunder broke her train of thought, and she sighed wistfully, watching the raindrops fall like tears onto the window. Closing her textbook, she slung her bag over her shoulder and reached for her pink, spotted umbrella.

“Maybe a walk will clear my head,” She said to herself, tossing her phone onto her bed without a second glance.

      The rain echoing as it hit the concrete drowned out the usual sounds of Paris, citizens preferring to stay off the streets in favor of keeping dry. Marinette shivered, cursing herself for not bringing a jacket but refusing to turn and head back down the block. She aimlessly strolled down the streets, allowing her mind as well as her feet to wander.

      She thought of Adrien, her hero behind the mask, how far away she felt from that day that reshaped her entire relationship with the boy. With just a few words, everything changed. Was she doing this entire dating thing right? Even now, she wasn’t entirely sure. The sole purpose was to get his fans off his back, which seemed to just backfire on her.

Maybe she wasn’t meant for him.

      The sound of a slamming door and footsteps caught Marinette’s attention; she realized that she was in front of the studio where Adrien was for a photoshoot. A girl no older than fourteen came barreling out of the building, her eyes shut tight as sobs racked her running figure. Before she could step out of the way, the girl ran straight into Marinette, knocking her to the ground. Marinette groaned and rubbed her head; the girl gasped, then stood over Marinette with a scowl on her tear stained face.

“You’re Adrien Agreste’s girlfriend, right?” The girl bored her eyes into Marinette’s, and pointed an accusing finger in her face. Timidly, Marinette nodded. The girl’s fists clenched, her face contorting in jealousy and rage.

“It’s your fault he didn’t accept me!” She shouted over the pouring rain. “I thought if I told him in person he would recognize my feelings, but he didn’t! It’s all because of you!” The girl took a step towards Marinette, who hastily stood up and backed away from the other girl.

“I-I’m sorry you feel like that, I didn’t mean to-” Marinette stuttered, and she gasped in horror when she saw the telltale purple butterfly gently land on the girl’s charm bracelet and melt into the jewelry.

Before her eyes, the heartbroken girl transformed into a supervillan. She laughed, and a rod adorned with a dark purple heart materialized out of thin air.

“Now you’re going to face the wrath of the Silver Crystal, you boyfriend stealing nobody!” The akumatized girl bellowed.

Breaking into a sprint, Marinette shouted over her shoulder, “Oh come on, I’m not stealing him from anyone! Why are you blaming me?!” Diving into an alleyway, she opens her bag and recites her usual transformation phrase.

Nothing happens.

Marinette repeats it again. Still no response. Confused, she glances in her bag and finds that Tikki is nowhere in sight. Marinette’s eyes widen and dart around the alley, her hand nervously brushing away a stray strand of hair when she realizes.

      She had taken her earrings out while she was bathing; she was so distracted with the messages that she didn’t put them back on. She jumps behind a dumpster, Marinette holds her breath and waits for Silver Crystal to go away. Five minutes pass, and all she can hear is the rain, beating down harder on the ground as the storm intensifies. Not wanting to waste any more time, Marinette exits the alleyway and begins to run home, her blood roaring in her ears as she sprints in the rain.

      Adrien walks out of his photoshoot, his worried gaze fixed on his phone; he had tried getting ahold of Marinette in between shoots, but to no avail. Plagg comes out from hiding in his jacket and promptly nestles himself into Adrien’s scarf.

“Do you think she’s mad at me?” He says, still staring intently at his phone screen.

“Who knows? Maybe she is, maybe she isn’t; just ask her yourself.” Adrien sighed and put away his phone, pushing open the studio door.

“Just ask her? But what if she’s so upset with me she doesn’t answer that either? Or-” His eye catches something abandoned on the sidewalk. A pink umbrella with little black spots. Adrien’s heart plummets. Every part of him screams “Something’s wrong.”

      He darts into the alley, hastily transforms and runs out onto the streets. Chat picks up the umbrella and begins to dash in the direction of Marinette’s house, with only one thing running through his mind: if something happened to her, he would never forgive himself.

Chapter Text

   Raindrops stung Marinette’s face as she sprinted with all her might, fighting against the wind. She could see the bakery, partially obscured by the gray rain shrouding the streets. Breathing heavily, she yanked the door handle and slammed it shut. Ignoring her parents’ confused stares, she raced to her room, shouting over her shoulder asking to be left alone.

She locked the trapdoor and pushed her chaise lounge over it. Her eyes darted around the room, landing on the little box next to her desk. Marinette snatched the box and opens it hastily, then sighed in relief: the earrings were right where the left them, tucked safely into the little earring box. Marinette put them on eagerly.

Tikki emerged from the earrings in a panicked flurry. 

"Marinette! What's wrong?!"

"No time, Tikki! Akuma!"

Tikki nodded with a determined look in her eyes. Marinette took a deep breath and shook her head, then shouted in the empty room.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Chat Noir leapt from rooftop to rooftop, running as fast as possible as he raced towards Marinette’s bakery. She had to be okay, right? The akuma was nowhere in sight, yet the uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach and planted its roots. She could have been seriously hurt for all he knew. If he rushed to the akuma and left her hurt and alone, he would never forgive himself.

He stumbled onto her balcony, his chest heaving. Chat’s eyes snapped towards the window and a weight lifted off his shoulders; he could see the girl in the room, her back facing him.

Then, a flash of pink light.

Chat shook his head, temporarily blinded by the sudden brightness. He blinked.

Wait a minute. . . is. . .that. . .?

He blinked twice, then blinked again. No, this wasn’t right; his vision must be wrong, this isn’t what’s happening right?

In Marinette’s place he sees a pair of pigtails tied with cute red ribbons, a red suit adorned with black polka dots, and a little matching yo-yo swinging in her hand.

Ladybug.

The boy is stunned for nearly a second too late; he rushed off of the balcony and hopped onto the roof of a nearby building, and he watched in confusion as Ladybug climbed out of the trap door and bolted back in the direction of the studio.

Once she disappeared from his sight, Chat slumped down and clutched his faux cat ears as he wrapped his mind around what he had seen.

Marinette is Ladybug. Ladybug is Marinette. The two girls he had pined over at completely different times were the same person. He was dating Ladybug the entire time?!

A thought bubbled to the surface and a wave of hurt crashed over him.

Didn’t she trust him enough to share her identity?

His communicator suddenly went off, and he picked it up and heard Ladybug’s voice.

“Chat! Where are you? T-there’s an akuma somewhere, I saw her around the photography studio, but I’ve lost her.”

An assortment of emotions blossomed in his chest. Why didn’t she trust him as much as she said she did?

“. . .Chat? Chat, are you there?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m on it.”

“Is. . . Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Send me the directions and I’ll be on my way.”

“I. . . Right. See you.”

The line ended with a sharp click! and Chat stood up and looked up at the grey clouds.

He sighed, pushed his pity party to the back of his mind, and sprung into action.

His relationship troubles would have to wait until after the akuma was finished.

They had the akuma cornered. Silver Crystal was on her last leg, her spells became useless and she weakly clutched her moon rod. With a flick of her wrist, Ladybug’s yoyo flung itself around the stick and she tugged. The cute, glittery weapon landed in Ladybug’s hands, and she broke it over her knee. The little dark butterfly flew out, and Ladybug captured and cleansed it with ease.

She cited her usual phrase and waved goodbye to the butterfly, then turned around with her fist raised to congratulate her partner on another victory.

But he wasn’t there. Chat had already left. A stab of hurt flashed through her, but bit her lip and forced a smile for the dazed girl.

Ladybug embraced the heartbroken girl pouring out her feelings and spouting apologies in between tears.

“I just wanted him to like me back,” She sniffled. “It’s not fair.”

Ladybug tightened her grip around the girl and tried to smother her guilt. “I’m sorry.”

The girl sobbed louder. Ladybug sniffled, wondering who exactly she was apologizing to, the girl or her own guilty conscience. 

Marinette leaned against the balcony railing, her gaze on the cellphone in her hand but not really processing what’s on the screen.

The comments on her recent post that day were flooded with rabid fangirls, each one becoming more violent and nasty than the last.

Her thoughts drifted to the recently akumatized girl.

It was Marinette’s fault, wasn’t it?

She was being selfish. So many girls like her were being hurt because of her.

Marinette laughed bitterly. She finally had what she wanted for so long, but it was nowhere near the sweet fairy tale she always daydreamed about and doodled in her notebooks. Hell, they weren’t even an actual couple until a couple months ago!

She was just doing Adrien a favor, and it only ended up hurting her in the process.

And then how he was acting during the akuma attack- what was that? What made him clam up like that? He was totally fine before, maybe it was something she did?

Marinette groaned in frustration, shut off her phone, and shoved it angrily into her pocket. She buried her head in her arms and sighed. She felt Tikki's tiny hand on her shoulder. 

“Marinette. . . Maybe you should ask him directly about why he seems so upset.”

“That’s easy to say, Tikki,” Marinette mumbled. “But will I really get an honest answer from him? He just… feels so far away.”

“Communication is key to any healthy relationship!” Tikki said. “Trust me, Marinette. Just talk to him!”

Marinette lifted her head up to face the kwammi and stared at her, giving her words a once-over. She might be overreacting. It could have been a rough day for him, everything was probably fine.  Marinette gave her a small smile.

“You might be right, Tikki,” She said. “I’m just afraid I’ll mess something up. I think I already have.”

“It’ll all work out, don’t worry so much!” Tikki said. "Sometimes I wonder if your real superpower is overthinking."

Marinette laughed, and shifted from her place on the railing.

“Right, right. C’mon, let’s get to bed.”

When Marinette crouched to open the trapdoor, she heard a heavy thump behind her. On instinct, she hid Tikki behind her and spun around to face the unexpected visitor. Her breath hitched.

“Chat?”

He stood defensively in front of Marinette, the Paris lights behind him illuminating his leather suit.

They were silent for a few minutes, both struggling to find the right words to say. Marinette took a deep breath and swallowed her heart that was attempting to crawl its way out of her throat.

“Look, I don’t know what I did wrong, but I’m sorry,” Marinette rubbed her arm. "You just seem so upset and I-"

“Why didn’t you tell me, Mari?”

“I- What? Tell you what?”

His gaze shifted as he tried looking behind Marinette. Tikki gasped quietly and Marinette's body stiffened. 

“Your kwammi. You don’t need to hide her anymore.”

Marinette was dumbfounded. Slowly, Tikki emerged from her hiding spot. Chat’s face twisted and he crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought.”

Chat walked closer towards Marinette and brushed her hair from her ear. He inspected the little red and black polka dot earrings, glinting in the light. His lips pressed into a thin line, and he stepped away from her again. 

“Why didn’t you tell me, Marinette? I thought you trusted me.”

“I-I don’t understand.”

“Come on, Marinette!” Chat snapped. “What happened to being able to tell eachother everything? I showed you my identity and you’ve been hiding yours from me this entire time?”

A pit of anger ignited in Marinette’s belly. “I didn’t feel ready to tell you! Why is it my fault?! You’re the one who up and left me today! You’ve been acting cold this entire time!”

“How was I supposed to work with the person who’s been lying to me the entire time?! How am I supposed to trust you as a superhero OR as a girlfriend?”

Marinette froze, cold sweeping over her like she was dunked in ice water. “What… what are you trying to say?”

Chat sighed and ran a gloved hand through his hair. His emerald green eyes stared at the ground.

“You’ve been distant a lot recently, and now this…” He said. “Maybe… maybe we should take a break. I don’t know how to feel about you right now.”

Marinette only heard glass shattering around her. Her shoulders slumped and her legs felt like weights bolting her to the ground.

An empty silence surrounded the pair, and the air grew tense. Marinette’s chest felt tight as she stared at her boyfriend- could she even call him that right now?

Tears started to form, and she attempted to blink them away until she couldn’t any longer. The girl muffled a sob and furiously swiped at her face to hide the tear streaks.

Chat felt a hollow pang and he restrained himself from wrapping his arms around her and apologizing immediately.

“Y-y’know what? Fine.” Marinette choked out a bitter retort and spun around, entered her room, and slammed the trapdoor.

He watched her go and sighed, before disappearing into the night.