Work Text:
Adrien was well aware that his extra time spent as Chat Noir gave him a few perks as a civilian. For one, he was fit as ever and lean enough to be useful to his father when it came to modeling. Another perk he gained was the ability to appreciate sunlight to the fullest on warm days, no matter what his mood had been beforehand.
This, of course, said nothing of the heightened senses he had been gaining outside the suit. Smells were stronger, objects more visible, and no whisper could escape his ears.
Especially whispers such as this.
“Alya, no. I told you I’m not going to,” Marinette said behind him.
“But why not?” Alya pushed. “You’re actually having legitimate conversations now! You don’t foam at the mouth anymore and truth be known I’m kind of missing the teasing—”
“Hey!”
“Keep it down, girl. Do you want the boys to hear us?”
A silence took place in which anyone looking at Adrien (and yes, even Nino!) would find a student hard at work. But Adrien knew that he was not the only one invested in the girl’s conversation. Nino’s headphones were on, but unplugged. He was listening in just as he was.
They were bad influences on each other, he supposed.
“Anyways, it’s your perfect opportunity. Just go for it.”
Marinette’s long suffering sigh piqued his interest more than it should have, he supposed. And then there was the thud of her head upon her desk.
That was not subtle. It sounded like it hurt.
“Are you okay?”
Adrien cursed his lack of impulse control internally, but there was no getting around it now. Marinette looked up from her desk and met his concerned gaze. Her eyes widened in what he could only assume was surprise before she shot him a quick smile.
“Adrien! I’m fine, I promise. Desks aren’t hard anyways and this work is hard and how much of that did you hear?” she asked, the words overflowing from her mouth before she could seemingly stop them.
Adrien blinked. How to answer, how to answer…?
“Um… I know I heard your head hitting the desk,” he admitted truthfully. Thankfully, she seemed to take that as a complete answer and sighed in relief. She turned to Alya, who looked as though nothing had happened at all.
Adrien turned back around and waited for the conversation to begin anew.
Surprise. It did not.
The conversation had long since resumed by the time Chat Noir made it to Marinette’s balcony that evening. By telephone. And his princess was pacing.
She had not heard him coming.
Maybe I should leave… he thought. Eavesdropping once was bad enough for the day, but to do it now felt even worse than it—
“I’m not confessing to Adrien, all right?”
As he was saying, curiosity might have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
“Look, it’s complicated—no, please don’t!”
More pacing.
“Alya.”
“But, wait—”
“He doesn’t need to know—oh, fine, I like someone else, okay?”
Chat Noir’s eyebrow rose. He was not expecting the leaden feeling that filled his chest at the proclamation that she had somehow moved on from him.
“No, I can’t— He really doesn’t need to know about that. That’s low… do you want me to tell a certain Nino about—that’s what I thought.”
A shrill sound came from Marinette’s room and for a moment Chat feared he had been discovered. An apology was halfway through his throat when Marinette’s voice started up again.
“Alya, you can’t ask that… you just can’t.”
“Alya, I swear he’s not a creep.”
“Low blow, girl… low blow.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter. Me and this new guy… we’re friends and I want it to stay that way for a while.”
“No, I don’t foam at the m—because I do, okay? I think I know whether or not I like someone, okay, Alya?”
“No, I don’t not like Adrien, he’s still sweet and amazing, but when I think about being with him the rest of my life… there’s just someone else there. That’s an indicator that I’d rather just be friends with Adrien now, right?”
“Look, Alya, I gotta go. No, I’m not expecting anyone, it’s almost three in the morning! I—uh…need to work on a design! Yup yup! I got some inspiration a few nights ago and I’m almost done with the sketch! I’ll show you at school on Monady! Okay, seeyoulaterbye!”
Chat heard his best friend throw the phone across the room and waited for a few moments. She groaned loudly and he wondered whether or not he should skip for tonight. She seemed very—
“Are you gonna stand there and eavesdrop all evening or are you coming in?”
His eyes widened. He was busted.