Chapter Text
Marinette couldn’t help but feel guilty as The Evillustrator drew a jetpack on his back and left her bedroom, saying he’d be waiting for her on the Left Bank. It was even worse when she saw the look of happiness when she sat next to him on the barge. Manipulating Nathanael’s feelings, even though he was akumatized, just made her feel bad. It wasn’t like her. After casting Lucky Charm, and he reverted back to himself, he looked dejected. She knew she didn’t have much time before her transformation wore off, so she made sure he was on his way home (or at least on his way out of Chloe’s penthouse) before going home herself.
“Tikki, what should I do about Nathanael?” Marinette asked as she opened a container of cookies and placed it in front of her kwami.
Tikki shrugged as she nibbled on a cookie. “He obviously has quite the crush on you,” she said in her tinny little voice.
Marinette winced. “I know.” Nathanael’s drawings, while quite good, were a little bit embarrassing. Especially once Chloe crowed about them when Mme. Mendeleiev kicked him out of class.
“But you don’t feel the same way.” Marinette shook her head. Her crush on Adrien made all other boys seem invisible. Except maybe Chat Noir, but that was only because he was so openly flirtatious with her (with both of her identities) in such a way that no boy ever had been before. She groaned as she thought about Nathanael again, hitting her forehead against the desk. “I tricked him on his birthday. He was so upset.”
Tikki abandoned her cookie, stroking Marinette’s hair. “He was akumatized, Marinette. It was the only way to save him and Paris.”
“I know.” Marinette sighed and blew her bangs out of her face. “Still doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“You can apologize to him,” Tikki suggested.
Marinette frowned, thinking. She nodded. “Okay. I can do that tomorrow before school.”
Tikki’s wide eyes got even bigger. “Before school? That’s optimistic of you.”
Marinette snorted. “Sarcasm doesn’t become you, Tikki.”
Tikki shrugged her tiny shoulders, getting back to her cookies. “I've usually left the sarcasm up to Plagg over the years, but he’s not here.”
Marinette furrowed her brow. “Who’s Plagg?” She couldn’t remember Tikki ever mentioning someone she didn’t know.
“Plagg is Chat Noir’s kwami.”
Marinette frowned. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize he’d have a kwami, too.”
Tikki nodded. “All Miraculouses have a kwami. We’re the physical manifestation of the magic of the Miraculous.”
“Is Plagg as annoying as Chat Noir can be?” Marinette asked, upper lip curled in annoyance as she thought about her partner.
Tikki giggled. “Plagg's not flirtatious, like your Chat is. He’d rather sleep or eat Camembert than do just about anything else.” She finished a cookie, reached for another one with a sigh. “But I miss him.” She looked up at Marinette. “All the Ladybugs have been my friend, but Plagg is my other half. He’s the bad luck to my good. When we're apart, we miss each other.”
Marinette stared at Tikki as she nibbled the cookie. She looked wistful. Marinette tapped her thumbnail against her teeth.
“If Chat and I knew who the other was...would you be able to see Plagg again?”
Tikki nodded. “But I’m not telling you who Chat is. You’ll have to discover that yourself.”
“I have to know who Chat is?” Marinette asked. “Why can’t our secret identities remain just that--a secret?”
Tikki sighed, lowered her half-eaten cookie with the sort of tiredness that comes with having explained a concept multiple times over the years. “You don’t have to know who he is. But I’m not allowed to tell you who he is. The power of the Miraculous prevents kwamis from divulging the identities of fellow Miraculouses to their Miraculous holder. Ladybug and Chat Noir could be siblings and Plagg and I still couldn’t tell our Miraculous.”
Marinette thought of the millennia of Ladybugs and Chats that came before her. “Do they always find out who the other really is?”
Tikki shook her head. “Not always, but it’s rare that they do not.”
“Is Chat always annoying?”
Tikki giggled. “Chat’s not always flirting with Ladybug, if that’s what you mean. As I said before, Ladybug and Chat can be siblings. They can also be some other sort of familial relation, or best friends, or lovers…It doesn’t matter what the relationship is, as long as the trust is there.”
Marinette smiled and gently stroked the top of Tikki’s head, petting her. “Okay. Thank you for telling me all of the Miraculous things.”
“Of course, Marinette. Anytime.”
“And I’ll talk to Nathanael tomorrow,” Marinette said. “I’m getting ready for bed.”
Tikki nodded, yawning sleepily as she flew up to Marinette’s loft bed. Marinette brushed her teeth and washed her face, before she too got into bed, all the while thinking about how to apologize to Nathanael until sleep finally claimed her.
***
As luck would have it, Marinette did manage to get to school early for once and found Nathanael in the deserted library, drawing. His expression was one of melancholy.
“Nathanael,” she said quietly. “Can we talk?”
He looked uncomfortable as he stared up at her, no doubt remembering the previous day’s events.
“Please?” she asked. He bobbed his head stiffly, closing his sketchbook. She pointed him towards a corner of the library and took a deep breath before turning to look at him.
“I’m sorry for last night. I know I broke my promise to you, but I only did it because you were akumatized.”
He smiled uncomfortably and shook his head, holding up a hand to quiet her. “It’s okay. I would have done the same thing. I hope I would have anyway. You're braver than I am.”
She sighed again, shifted her weight from foot to foot. She wasn't done yet. “I also want to apologize because...because I like someone else.”
Nathanael closed his eyes, the look of pain on his face made it appear like he had taken a physical blow.
“I know that you probably had the worst ever birthday yesterday, and what I’m telling you now is probably making it worse, but you deserve to know. I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”
Marinette bit her lip, looking down at her shoes. “Okay. See you in class,” she said, turning to leave. She paused and turned back to him. "You're plenty brave, Nathanael. And I know you would have done the same for me."
He smiled, looking less sad than he had since yesterday. "Thank you, Marinette. That's...a real compliment, coming from you."
She waved goodbye and left him by himself. She rounded the corner and leaned against the wall, sending up a silent prayer that Nathanael wouldn’t get akumatized (again) because of this.
***
After a completely uneventful day at school, Adrien was bored. He had no photoshoot or go-see or fitting or anything to do as far as modelling went, and he had finished all his homework already. Dinner wasn’t for a few more hours, he’d caught up on The Ladyblog, and none of the fancy games in his room were holding his interest.
“Plagg? Can we transform and run around Paris?” he asked suddenly. “I’ll stop by one of the cheese shops tomorrow after school and get you some really nice camembert,” he said.
Plagg shrugged, stuffing another piece of cheese in his mouth. “There was no akuma attack today, so why not?”
A few minutes later, Adrien was running across the rooftops of Paris, towards the collège, when movement caught his eye. He perched on a gable, looking down at the person on the terrace across the street.
Marinette.
He frowned, thinking of his dark-haired classmate. Yesterday when Ladybug asked him to watch out for her, he had to admit he was a little excited at the prospect of spending time with her in such a way that she’d be able to talk to him. Marinette was the one classmate he couldn’t get a read on. She had warmed to him (maybe?) from their initial and disastrous introduction, but because of her inability to speak around him, he just wasn’t sure.
He cocked his head as he watched her watering her plants, considering.
He made his choice.
Adrien leapt across the street, landing on the railing of her terrace. “Bonsoir, Princess,” he all but purred.
Marinette jumped, throwing her spray bottle in the air as she turned around to face him. Adrien leapt for the bottle as it fell over the railing of the terrace, catching it before landing on the railing once again.
“Careful, Princess,” he said with a smirk as he offered her the bottle.
“What do you want, Chat Noir?” she asked, snatching it back.
“Checking in on you to see if you were okay after last night.”
She shrugged, resumed watering her plants. “I’m fine.”
“What’s bugging you?”
She sighed. “Just...boy things."
"Well, maybe I can help, Princess. After all, I am a boy."
Marinette turned her head to look at him, narrowing her eyes. "Okay, then. I'll tell you. The guy who was akumatized yesterday? The one who said if I went on a date with him, he wouldn’t hurt Chloe?”
Adrien nodded. He wasn’t particularly close to Nathanael, but he liked him well enough.
“I turned him down this morning. Found him before school and told him I didn’t feel the same way.”
“Why did you turn him down?” he asked. Nathanael was shy, like Marinette, but he wasn't sure that the two of them would be a good fit. Marinette could stand up for herself most of the time. Even when he was the Evillustrator, Nathanael remained soft-spoken.
Marinette sighed heavily. “I like someone else in our class.”
“Oh? Who?” He wasn’t sure he should be asking her that, in case she ever found out who he was behind the mask, but curiosity killed the cat. (Hah!) Who had captured Marinette’s affections? He ran through a mental list of everyone in class.
“Marinette!” a voice called up from the street. “We need your help down here!”
Marinette smiled, looking like she didn't want to leave. “Sorry, Kitty. That’s my mom. She must have given up trying to get my attention from downstairs.”
“Can I come by again later tonight?” he asked impulsively.
She smiled at him, a full beaming grin this time, and Adrien suddenly realized how pretty she was.
“Sure thing, Kitty. Ten o’ clock work for you?”
He nodded. “Until then, ma princesse.” He leapt up onto the chimney, running the length of the roof peak before vaulting onto the next roof with his baton.