Chapter Text
He knows.
That was the only thought crossing Marinette’s mind as she paced her floor. Tikki watched her from the desk. “What am I going to do?” she wondered aloud. Part of her wanted to scream. Part of her wanted to never transform again. And a tiny part of her wanted to know who Cat Noir was beneath the mask. She stopped her pacing abruptly, eyes shooting to Tikki. “Why did you tell him?”
“He was never going to get it,” Tikki explained. She took another bite of her cookie. “Believe me, there are worse ways Ladybug and Cat Noir have found out about each other.” She flew over to Marinette. “Why didn’t you accept his offer?”
Marinette sighed. “I don’t think I want to find out who he is. It’s bad enough that he knows who I am.” Realization crossed her face. “Does this mean he knows me outside of our superhero identities?”
Tikki shrugged. “Not necessarily, it wouldn’t. But he does.”
The girl held back a groan. He’d be able to talk to her, be around her all the time. And Marinette would have no idea. Perhaps she should just keep an eye out for any increase in puns from her classmates. Or flirting.
“I’m sure you’ll figure out what to do, Marinette. You always do.”
“Thanks, Tikki.” Marinette slumped. “I have homework to finish, don’t I?”
A couple miles away, Cat Noir was sliding into his bedroom. He transformed back into Adrien and flopped onto his bed. “That went exactly as well as I expected it to,” he said. The pillow muffled his groan.
Plagg settled beside him. “Well, it could have gone worse.”
Adrien turned his head to face the kwami. “How do you figure?”
“She could have slapped you. Or just run away. There are a lot of things that are worse. Just look on the bright side.”
“What bright side?” Adrien questioned.
Plagg shrugged. Adrien gave him a glare before slamming his face back into the pillow. “She hates me.”
His cell phone rang. Plagg rolled his eyes at the cheery tune. “Hello?” Adrien said with his phone to his ear.
“Hey,” Marinette greeted. He could almost hear her internal groan as she tried not to stutter. “I-I have some time later. I was wondering if you’d like to go to the cinema with me?”
Adrien’s face lit up with a grin. “Absolutely. Anything you want to see?”
“Meet me at six?”
“Of course.” He said goodbye and hung up. The phone hit his pillow with a dull thud as he sat up. “I don’t know if I can do this, Plagg.”
Plagg groaned. “Kid, you’re Cat Noir for a reason. If there’s one thing Cat is always good at, it’s the double identity thing. She’ll come to eventually, believe me.”