Chapter 8

"You have a rock climbing wall," Marinette said, her eyes wide and her expression almost appalled. It was a typical reaction when kids his age saw his room, Adrien supposed. Actually, Nino had made the same face, and he and Marinette were the only two people ever to have been in his room who were not paid to be there, so statistically it was a 100% common response.

"Yeah, it helps build up arms like these," he said, pushing up his sleeve to flex at her.

She giggled, and swatted his arm away. "Don't get such a big head, handsome boy, or you'll be just as bad as that Chat Noir," she admonished him, smiling wide.

He wanted to say that if she kept calling him handsome, there was no hope for the size of his ego. He wanted to pull her toward him into a tight hug, because he was so glad to have her smile adding warmth to his cold, white room. He wanted to know that she wasn't pretending to flirt with him, but that she meant it.

Instead, he winked at her, and told her to make herself at home.

Marinette responded to this by immediately settling into in his desk chair, raising an eyebrow at the three large monitors before spinning the chair to face him. She pulled her legs up into the chair and sat criss-cross applesauce, looking at him as though she were waiting for him to do something. It was a curious mirror to when he'd sat at her computer desk weeks earlier, trying to figure out her favourite animal.

"Say, why don't you like cats?" he asked, sitting on his bed.

She blinked at him, obviously not having expected that question. "They're morons," she said, laughing. "Why should I like them?"

"Well, you like Chat Noir, don't you? He's pretty much the most famous cat there is," he replied, desperately hoping that whatever face he was making wouldn't give away his identity.

She shook her head. "He's the worst one!" she declared, before pausing and evidently thinking the statement through a bit more. Which made sense since, as far as she knew, Adrien wouldn't have any reason to think that she had enough experience to form a real opinion on Chat. Adrien's mouth quirked its way into a smile as she went on, "I only met him for a few moments but he was the biggest...goof!"

Adrien found it interesting that she would try to conceal the fact that Chat Noir had visited her just last night. While he knew that he was no Ladybug, there were people who loved to get updates on Chat Noir's activities in the city, and there was nothing to be lost from bragging that a celebrity super hero had paid her extra attention. That is, unless she worried what Adrien would think. Either she didn't want Adrien to know she was sharing clandestine visits with Chat in order to protect Adrien's feelings, or she was embarrassed that Chat had decided to stop by.

Option one meant that she might have feelings for either Chat or Adrien (both were fine in his book). Option two meant...well, he wasn't sure what it meant.

"I kinda thought you liked goofs," Adrien replied, a cat-like grin on his face. "You do hang out with me and Alya often enough. Not to mention the biggest goof in this room happens to have her hair in pigtails..."

"Are you implying that I'm a goof?" she asked, crossing her arms. Despite her fake pout, a smile broke through.

"Are you implying that you aren't?" he shot back, leaning forward in his seat.

"I don't think you can really judge my goofiness," she decided, turning her nose up after him. "After all, I've sat through a month of your atrocious puns and--"

"And laughed at almost every single one," Adrien finished for her.

"Oh yeah? Well you kissed this goof," she said, grinning. His heart did a flip and his breath caught in his throat and he was not quite sure if that was a result of her smile or the fact that, yes, he'd kissed that goof.

He leaned back now, just looking at her with a shy smile. "That was my first kiss," he admitted. Barring, of course, kisses he didn't remember. Thanks, akuma, he thought sarcastically.

Her face turned bright pink in a way that hadn't happened for quite some time in their conversations. It was the kind of blush he'd gotten used to whenever he provoked her or said something even mildly flirty to or around her--the kind of blush he'd honestly missed since they'd become closer friends.

"I've kissed...one other person," she admitted, the pink refusing to leave her face. She was the same colour as her pants and avoiding eye contact.

His mouth went dry as he tried to imagine who she could have possibly kissed before. Jealousy wasn't really his M.O but he felt the itch of it in his throat. He thought about lying, telling her about the kiss with Ladybug as though it counted, but the words died in his throat. Instead, he smiled.

"A month ago I would have been in awe that you could have had your first kiss before me," he admitted. "But honestly, at this point I'm surprised you weren't dating someone already when I asked you to play along with me. Was it with that other guy you like?"

His question was quiet, respectful, as though it were a normal question between friends. It was a Chat Noir style question, needling and insistent, in Adrien's voice.

In the stark white of his room, the pink of her blush seemed to add colour to the entire wall behind her.

"How did you know I liked someone?" she blurted out, as shocked as he was that he'd asked it.

He shrugged, laughing as though this wasn't heartbreak for him. "When this first started you talked about having an unrequited crush on someone," he explained. "I'd ask you to spill all the details, but I'm probably not as good to talk to about it as Alya."

A hundred questions burned through his brain: Do I know him? Is he taller than me? Does he know you like him? Is he a superhero? Can he do a backflip?

"What about you?" she asked suddenly. "Do you like anyone?"

Her blue eyes burned like fire as she stared at him, so earnest and sincere. He couldn't believe that he'd ever actually thought that Marinette might have a crush on him. Ridiculous, really--she'd given no sign of it whatsoever.

His smile remained unchanged, and he was glad that he had practise looking sincere. Standing up, he stepped over to her, noting the way she stiffened as though she thought he might touch her. Silly, really, that she'd worry about that. There was no one there to see them, after all. Instead, he moved past her and jiggled the mouse to his computer. The monitors lit up, showing his desktop background three times over.

It was a picture taken from Alya's blog, of Ladybug leaping from one building to another. It was remarkably clear; you could see Ladybug's small smile of determination as she swung above Paris. Chat Noir wasn't in the picture--just his Lady.

Adrien stepped away again and bowed slightly. Marinette's mouth was open as she looked back and forth between the pictures of the city's heroine and Adrien, and she started to laugh.

"You have a crush on Ladybug?" she asked, giggling what seemed like a disproportionate amount for whatever joke she saw in the situation. "You, Adrien Agreste... have a crush on Ladybug?"

"I know," he replied, laughing. "She's a bit out of my league, don't you think?"

Marinette wheezed, clutching her sides, and nearly wobbled right out of the chair. "You like Ladybug," she repeated.

"I do!" he said, smiling despite himself. Even as his heart was breaking, her smile lit up everything around her, and this was a hundred times better. Though, he still didn't get the joke. "What's so funny?"

"I just..." She took a deep breath and wiped a tear from her eye. "I wish I'd known this a month ago! A week ago! She's always saving your life and you've just been sitting here with this—" She gestured toward the computer screen. "Now it's just too funny."

"What, you think I wouldn't have a chance with her?" he asked. "I've been told I look a lot like Chat Noir, you know, and they're quite close."

She sputtered out with more laughter, unable to contain it. "White people all look the same, Adrien. You can't think she'd like you just because you look like that silly cat!"

"White people don't all look the same!" he protested, starting to laugh along with her. It was pretty ridiculous.

"Honest to god, I thought you and Chloe were brother and sister on the first day of school," she told him, cackling.

Before Adrien could express his disgust at being related to Chloe, a polite knock announced Nathalie's arrival. She quickly appraised the situation with a neutral expression, noting in the red-in-the-face teenage girl sitting by the computer and Adrien standing nearby, and gave one slow blink.

"Your father had to jet to Milan. He won't be home until tomorrow evening," she said, and quietly ducked out of the room.

Adrien's face dropped before he could recover and shrug as though it weren't a big deal. He had desperately wanted to introduce Marinette to his father, for no comprehensible reason. His father hadn't approved of Nino, his best friend, so why would he approve of Marinette? Perhaps it was because his father had already approved of her designs, so he trusted the brain in her head. His father might be dense, but he had to recognise how fundamentally good Marinette was. Everyone else had--even Nath, who never even talked to her.

Unfortunately, Marinette had seen his face, and she was too kind to ignore it.

"Should I leave?" she asked quietly, having sobered significantly since Nathalie had come in. "I'm sure you have as much homework to do as I do."

"Y-yeah," he managed, recognising her attempt to escape the awkward situation and respecting it. "Just don't be a stranger, alright? Text me when you get home."

————————

Here she was, perched on a rooftop next to Adrien's house, behaving like a voyeur in a way that was far too reminiscent of her partner's recent antics around Marinette.

She'd suited up with the full intention of swooping in and surprising Adrien, to cheer him up after his father had abandoned him at the last second, to see him swoon and fawn over her as she'd been doing over him for months. And yet, she hesitated.

Was this irresponsible of her? How could she know that he wouldn't connect the dots and realize that Ladybug had come to visit immediately after Marinette had discovered his infatuation? Adrien's sense of humour made her doubt it sometimes, but he wasn't an idiot. He'd see through in her a second.

But the thought of his face before she'd left--eyes downcast, mouth pulled into a small but meaningful frown--and she couldn't abandon him to that. She almost hoped Gabriel Agreste became an akuma victim so that she'd have a valid reason to punch him in the face someday.

Ladybug swooped into his window, which had been left open. She'd planned on knocking on his window like some kind of stray until he'd opened it for her, but here it was, open for wind and trash to blow in. His room was illuminated, but empty.

"Where are you?" she murmured to herself, putting her hands on her hips as she thought.

Music was playing, as though he'd just stepped out of the room for a moment and was planning to return any moment. She often set music to play in her room when she disappeared as Ladybug, hoping her parents would believe that she was occupied in her room rather than cavorting about Paris, so it occurred to her that perhaps Adrien had snuck out.

She wouldn't blame him, after all. Perhaps he'd gone to see Nino or — and the thought brought a jolt of concern — Marinette, since his father wouldn't be home. With some reluctance, she crawled out of his window, and began her trek across Paris back to her bakery.

Ladybug was approximately halfway to her home when she saw a familiar looking shadow scampering from rooftop to rooftop ahead of her. She paused, perched on a window sill, and saw the black figure stall as its flashing green eyes caught sight of her. She grinned, and swung over to him in a heartbeat, her stomach aswirl with butterflies at seeing Chat without an emergency immediately before them.

But as she settled close to him and opened her mouth to speak, she realized that he had no reason to be suited up. There wasn't an akuma. No danger to be found at all. She narrowed her eyes at him and felt her smile fade from her face. He looked guilty.

"Why are you suited up, Chat Noir?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Oh, uh, well, you see," he began, scratching the back of his head and looking around for an excuse to latch on to. "I was thinking that nightly patrols should be a thing, so I figured I'd start out on my own to see how, er, effective they are before I invited you!"

She blinked at him. "And how effective was it?" she asked, in a voice as plain as a sugar-free oatmeal cookie. She wanted to see how far he'd go.

"Pretty good!" he said. "I mean I didn't catch any villains, and I probably wouldn't have been able to without you anyway since I can't purify akumas, but I feel like it's a good--" he stammered on before she cut him off.

"You were suiting up to impress your girlfriend," she interrupted. Her voice was low and full of blame. He flinched under the force of the simple sentence.

"I...yes," he admitted. "But she wasn't home."

She could picture it: Chat Noir swooping in on some unwitting civilian, flexing and posing as she laughed at his antics. She could picture him leaning in for a kiss, with some beautiful girl (she was blonde, like Chloe, but with more tasteful make up in Ladybug's imagination) returning it in delight.

"How can you be so irresponsible?" she snapped, unable to contain the bubble of jealousy that was expanding painfully in her chest. "Does she know about your identity? If she finds out, then she could find out about me, and akuma will start directly attacking us when we're out of costume! What if our families got hurt? You're endangering more than just yourself by traipsing around in costume for a pretty face!"

She clapped her hands over her mouth as soon as she'd finished her tirade. His shoulders hunched forward and he avoided her eyes; he was visibly hurt by what she'd said, and she hadn't even meant it.

"I'm sorry, Ladybug," he said quietly.

"I...I didn't mean it!" she stammered out, suddenly so much more like Marinette than Ladybug.

"You did," he replied, a sad smile growing on his face. Even with his incredible knack for smiling through the worst, his smile was unconvincing. Maybe she just knew him too well. "And you're right. I won't do it again."

He was gone before she could think of something, anything to say to make him feel better. She sat down right where she was and put her head into her hands, so full of shame she couldn't form words. The one person in her life she knew she'd be able to depend on, the one person who shared her secret and her passion of saving the city, and she'd alienated him. She'd pushed him away with jealousy and bitterness.

Slowly, she got herself home, and detransformed in the safety of her room. Tikki didn't say anything to her, and for that, at least, she was grateful. The red kwami drifted off to her own corner of the room without so much as a look.

With a wince of guilty, she checked her phone. She'd told Adrien she would text him when she'd gotten home, but that was almost two hours ago. Even if she'd driven off the one boy in her life she'd always been able to count on, she wanted to try to maintain her friendship with Adrien if it was the last thing she did.

[Text From: Adrien <3 <3 <3 @ 6:11 PM]Hope u got home ok sorry my dad bailed[Text From: Adrien <3 <3 <3 @ 7:32 PM]How can you say that cats are dumb when they do this [IMAGE][Text From: Adrien <3 <3 <3 @ 8:18 PM]Okay i looked at that cat gif again and i can totally understand why ur not responding i probably wouldnt respond to me either

She smiled, wondering how she could have ever thought that Adrien was this cool, mysterious dude. He was the same caliber of dork as Chat Noir, just minus the leather and the weird obsession with cat-specific puns. Even if he didn't make her heart ache anymore, she was supremely glad to have him as a friend. Maybe when she got over her weird hang up on Chat Noir, she could ask him out for real. Now that she knew him, it wasn't such an intimidating concept.

[Text To: Adrien <3 <3 <3 @ 8:20 PM]You're such a weirdo! I dropped by your house earlier to show you something, but you weren't there :-(

Marinette figured that it was a safe enough fib, and she could keep the conversation going without having to acknowledge that yes, sometimes she thought cats were cute. What a ridiculous notion.

[Text From: Adrien <3 <3 <3 @ 8:21 PM]I ran to the coffee place by my hosue so i could stay awake thru cramming. i didnt see u on my way back i cant believe this

[Text To: Adrien <3 <3 <3 @ 8:23 PM]Weird, we must have just missed each other! I'll leave you to study :-)

Such a simple explanation, really. She climbed down from her bed, and sat down at her computer to attempt to get some studying done herself, idly wondering what she'd expected him to say. Impulsively, she pulled up Alya's blog instead of anything even remotely related to her history assignment.

There was a dark, blurry picture of Chat and herself, standing on a rooftop not too far from the bakery, and Marinette felt a tingle of concern creeping up her spine. She looked at herself, her pose clearly angry, accusing Chat Noir of...well, only Marinette and Chat would know what she was yelling at him for, and that was the only solace she had in regards to the picture. The caption explained that someone had spotted them from their living room window. Alya had already begun to theorize that this was the lucky duo's first of many nightly patrols, and that the two were bickering over how things ought to be done.

Marinette wondered if, somewhere, Chat Noir was looking at Alya's Ladyblog and seeing the same picture, reliving whatever he'd felt when she'd given him that thorough and completely undeserved tongue lashing.

Then again, what reason would he have to check up on Alya's blog? It wasn't like he knew Alya. She shelved the thought, urgent to avoid making herself feel guilty all over again. The next time she saw Chat, she'd apologize and make it up to him somehow. That was that.