Amour Chassé-Croisè
Ladybug had been right. They had stayed out too late and now Peter was exhausted.
“Do you drink coffee?” Peter asked Adrien at breakfast, praying he would answer in the affirmative.
“Can’t, my dad says it makes my teeth yellow,” Adrien said, eyes half closed as he sipped his orange juice. Peter should’ve been used to barely getting enough sleep by now, but the time difference was still throwing him off. Good thing he had nothing to do after school except watch movies with Adrien.
Peter’s phone vibrated with an incoming call. “Sorry, I should take this,” Peter said, checking the caller ID.
A photo of him and Tony filled the screen. It was Peter’s favourite. Both him and Tony were grinning at the camera, and Tony was holding a singular iron man fist up for the camera.
“Hello?” Peter said, hastily walking away from the table as he pressed the phone to his ear.
“Come to the window of your room,” Tony’s voice answered. “Press it to the spider logo on your suit, it should hopefully work. See you around, kid.” And with that he hung up before Peter could even get a word in.
Peter entered his room, only to see a black box sitting on the floor in front of one of his open windows. Gently he picked it up, opening the lid to see a silver necklace with a spider pendant inside.
“Perfect,” he said aloud, running his hand over the Stark Industries logo on the inside of the lid before clasping the necklace around his neck. He pulled his suit out of the briefcase, following Tony’s instructions and pressing the black spider to the matching pendant.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. And then the suit dissolved in his hands, being sucked into the necklace like a vacuum. It was so cool.
“Peter? We gotta go!” Adrien called from somewhere in the hallway. He’d have to test out the transformation later, then.
School was as boring as ever. Peter could do even the most complex of mathematical equations they gave him in his head. He was fine with it, though. Midtown High was always trying to challenge him and failing. He much rather the school not try in the first place.
Peter didn’t even realize he’d dozed off until Adrien was shaking him awake for lunch. He blinked, sitting up, surprised that no one else had even noticed.
“How are you tired? You went to bed so early,” Adrien teased as they sat in the courtyard. Peter shared some of his leftover bread, as it seemed that Adrien hadn’t been permitted a lunch for the day.
“Going to bed early does not equate to a good night’s sleep,” Peter grumbled. “Is that coffee?” He asked Nino as he sat down with them, Alya and Marinette in tow.
“No, it’s a monster energy drink. Marinette has coffee though,” Nino said, taking a sip of his can.
“I could actually go for some coffee right now, too,” Adrien said.
“Daddy Agreste would get mad, though,” Nino said. “You’ve been banned from so many foods, I struggle to keep them all straight.”
“He’s already having bread,” Alya pointed out. “And I thought that was number one on the no no food list.”
“Mari? Could Peter and I have a sip of your coffee? Please?” Adrien shot Marinette a dazzling smile, coupled with sparkling green puppy-dog eyes.
“Eep! Of course!” Marinette squeaked, promptly dumping the entire contents of her thermos on the ground. Peter and Adrien just stared at her, and Peter felt his soul leave his body a little bit. “Oh no, I’m sorry! I meant to pass it to you and then I just….”
“Are you okay? You dumped it on your leg,” Adrien pointed out.
“It’s fine! You’re really hot, I mean it’s really hot!” Marinette giggled.
“Should we take her to the nurse?” Nino asked.
“I’ll take her,” Alya volunteered. “Come on, Mari.” Alya helped her hobble away in the direction of the office.
“Poor Marinette,” Adrien said. “She’s always been so clumsy.”
“You think that’s all there is to it?” Nino said incredulously. “Man, maybe you really are as oblivious as Alya says.”
You have no idea, Peter thought. Out loud, however, he said, “Nino, you know he’s in love with Ladybug.”
“I don’t get that,” Nino said. “Sure, everyone is in love with Ladybug. But you’ve talked to her like, twice. There are real girls at this school who would love to be with you.”
“You’re exaggerating,” Adrien laughed. “Plus, none of the girls at this school are Ladybug.”
Peter facepalmed before he could stop himself. The loud smack caused both Adrien and Nino to jump, staring at him.
“There was a fly,” he said lamely by means of explanation.
“When are you gonna realize that you and Ladybug aren’t going to happen?’ Nino prodded further. “She’s a superhero, she can’t have a personal life inside that. When she’s not in the suit she’s got her own stuff going on. Have you ever considered that she has a boyfriend in real life?”
Adrien paused, and Peter could tell that no, Adrien definitely had not considered that fact. It seemed to ruin his whole mood, and he was pretty quiet for the rest of lunch and the school day.
“We’re still on to watch movies, right?” Peter asked as Adrien got ready for his fencing lesson.
“Yeah, I guess,” Adrien said, putting his white helmet on. “I’ll be done in half an hour.”
“I’ll be at that café nearby,” Peter supplied, waving as he exited the school building. Nino had written Adrien being upset off as him just having to face reality, but Peter knew Adrien wasn’t thinking about Adrien Agreste and Ladybug being together. He wanted Chat Noir and Ladybug to be together, and now Nino had ruined that fantasy by implying that Ladybug could have a boyfriend that wasn’t Adrien.
Peter stumbled his way through ordering a coffee and finally managed to sit down, taking a deep breath as he breathed in the delicious coffee fumes. He was raising the cup to his lips, preparing to take his first sip, when he heard a scream outside.
“Jesus Christ,” he cursed aloud, setting the coffee down on the table and running into the washrooms. Now was a good time as ever to test out his suit’s new capabilities.
“Karen, transform me,” he said and his necklace glowed, his suit expanding from his sternum outwards, his clothes melting into the suit seamlessly grew over him. Within seconds the transformation had finished, and where Peter Parker had stood before was now Spiderman. His backpack had also vanished, and Peter couldn’t tell if it was convenient or not. The small washroom had a glazed window and Peter smashed it, rationalizing by reminding himself that Ladybug’s magic would set it back to normal in the end.
Today’s akuma was a lady whose dance tv show had been canceled after one episode. At least, that’s what Peter gathered from her cringey monologue as she hit passerby's with a whip that caused them to dance uncontrollably. Ladybug was nowhere in sight and Peter didn’t really feel like taking the akuma on by himself.
He landed right in the middle of Adrien’s fencing lesson to no small amount of screams. Adrien was waiting for his turn on the sidelines, his helmet blessedly off for easy recognition. Peter shot a web right in the middle of his chest, pulling him up and away.
They landed behind the school once more and Adrien regarded him with a bewildered expression. “Spiderman?”
“There’s an akuma, suit up.” Peter said, then realized his mistake. Adrien didn’t know Spiderman. Or at least he hadn’t.
What had Spiderman just said? Suit up? Spiderman knew? Spiderman knew!
Adrien was panicking as he stared blankly at Spiderman, his mind reeling. How did he know?
“Sui-suit up? I don’t know what you mean?”
“Shit, I didn’t mean…I forgot you weren’t supposed to know I knew,” Spiderman grabbed at his own head in exasperation. “I’m sorry Chat, I mean Adrien.”
Adrien just stared at him, uncertain of whether he should move to transform. “How did you…?” He didn’t want to confirm or deny it, but if there was an akuma attack, Ladybug was probably out there battling it herself.
“My suit has an iris scanner,” Spidey explained, his suit’s eyes adjusting into what looked like a sympathetic shape. “So, uh, it kind of matched Chat Noir’s eyes with yours. Cuz you’re kind of all over the internet.”
“Of course it did,” Adrien grumbled. “You’re not going to tell anyone, right?”
“Never,” Spiderman promised. “Spider’s honour. I never even meant to tell you that I knew, I just saw an akuma and panicked.”
Right. The akuma. Adrien could’ve slapped himself. They were standing there having a cushy conversation while Paris was being terrorized.
“Guess the cat’s out of the bag,” Adrien said. “Plagg, transform me!” A flash of green later and Chat Noir had taken his place.
“Come on, it’s this way,” Spiderman said, running along a rooftop and swinging off. Adrien struggled to keep up.
“Why couldn’t I have been given something to swing with? Ladybug has her yoyo, Spiderman has his webs, and all I’ve got is this stupid baton. This isn’t fair.” He complained aloud, despite the fact that no one could hear him.
He was already out of breath by the time he reached the buggies. They were staring at the victims with concern, watching as Paris’s inhabitants danced through the streets, locked in a vicious dance off.
“Where’s the akuma?” Chat asked, looking around. Everyone within eyesight was part of the flash mob, moving to a beat they couldn’t hear.
“Chat!” Spiderman moved so fast Chat almost missed it, and then he was being yanked forwards, a web stuck to his chest as a whip cracked through the air where Adrien had been standing only seconds before.
“Aha! Ladybug, Chat Noir, I see you’ve come to join the fun!” The akuma had a chunky bob, a flashy dress and super tall stilettos, like a Barbie doll of a child who’d just discovered scissors.
“I’ve always preferred more of a smooth waltz myself,” Adrien quipped, glancing at Ladybug. “It’s a little more intimate, if you know what I mean.”
“Hey!” Spiderman said, putting his hands on his hips. “You forgot me! You mentioned Ladybug and Chat Noir, but it’s like I’m not even here! I’m such a good dancer, too! Which is why I know you can’t be a good dancer if you don’t have good form.” He put emphasis on the last word.
Adrien looked at him, confused, and Spiderman jerked his head towards the lady’s balled up first. Sure enough, he could see the corner of a piece of paper poking out.
“Oh yeah, good form,” he repeated lamely.
“Way to make it obvious,” Ladybug said, swinging her yoyo around her head as she charged the akuma who, predictably, ran away.
Spiderman and Chat fell into stride beside her as they chased the akuma over the rooftops, feet thudding and Adrien’s claws scraping. “Do you want to use something, My Lady?” He asked, nodding to her yoyo.
“Why not,” she sighed. “Lucky Charm!” A bottle of olive oil landed in her hands.
“Oil! That’s great, that’ll make her slip so fast,” Adrien said enthusiastically. “Trust me, when you’re wearing heels there’s like, no grip at all.”
“I’ll take your word for it, I’m not really a fan of heels,” Ladybug replied as she looked around for a place to pour it.
“There!” Spiderman pointed at a house with a glass roof. “Chat, bring her to us; Ladybug and I are going to set up a slick surprise for Miss Dancy Pants.”
“That’s the best you could come up with?” Ladybug asked. “Dancy pants?”
“I never said I was creative, I just said I was sticky when I joined the team,” Spidey said, miffed.
“Okay, I’m on it,” Chat said, running after the akuma. “Hey, Dancy Pants!”
“My name is Starlette!” The akuma roared, pausing to wheel around and flick her whip at Chat. He dodged it easily, his grin never wavering.
“Sorry, you can’t forgive me for not knowing who you are,” he said. “After all, I haven’t even seen you dance yet. All this talk about making everyone else dance, but maybe you’re all talk and no do.”
“I’m the best dancer this world has ever seen! They weren’t ready for my talent! You’re not ready for my talent!” As she screamed at him, Chat saw the telltale mask sign surround her face, letting him know that Papillon was speaking to her. Probably something about his miraculous.
“Give me your miraculous and I’ll show you how good a dancer I am,” Starlette said, her change in tactics confirming Adrien’s suspicion.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “You see, I have a feeling my miraculous is worth a lot more than whatever dance you want to show me.” And with that, he took off running back the way he’d came, listening to the satisfying click-click of her heels as she followed hot in pursuit.
Chat saw the trap on the glass roof and bounded over it, but Starlette wasn’t as lucky as she tried to run across the oil. Her ankles twisted in a way that made him wince as she slipped and slid right into Spiderman’s waiting web, getting stuck to it.
“Let! Go!” Ladybug moved in carefully, trying to pry the piece of paper from the akuma’ said sealed fist, but it didn’t seem to be working.
“Stand back, I got this,” Spiderman said, stepping forwards. “Taser web!”
Both Ladybug and Chat said ‘no!’ in unison but it was too late as a crackling web shot from Spidey’s wrist, hitting the akuma victim with an electric shock that tightened all her muscles then released them, and the balled-up form fell into the oil.
“Cataclysm!” Chat said, pressing his destructive powers into the paper, crumbling it instantly. Ladybug quickly snatched up the akuma butterfly, purifying it.
“Never do that again! You could’ve killed her!” Ladybug snapped at Spiderman.
“But I didn’t. It wasn’t enough of a charge to kill anyone, and besides, an akuma makes a person superhuman. A little shock isn’t going to hurt them.” And sure enough, the lady appeared unharmed, albeit confused, as she looked around.
“Next time we’ll exhaust all our other options first before we break out the taser webs,” Ladybug begrudgingly agreed. “Miraculous ladybug!” She threw the empty oil carton into the air.
Adrien held out his fist and she pounded it. “Bien joué!” They said in unison.
After relocating further away from the frenzy that usually descended after an akuma attack, Spiderman flashed them a peace sign.
“I’d love to stay and talk, but I’ve got to go talk to Iron Man. I’m long overdue for a status report.”
That was the coolest thing he could’ve said, Adrien decided. “No way! I wanna meet Iron Man!”
Ladybug made a small sound of disagreement and Spidey unfortunately seemed to agree. “I don’t want to make it seem like it’s a big secret meeting, but Mr. Stark tends to reside in a morally grey area when it comes to getting what he wants, and I have a feeling he’d take a special interest in your miraculous. I’ll just filter it out for him, tell him I have no idea who you are or how you get your powers,” he said with a wink.
“Thanks Spidey,” Ladybug said.
“Hey, we’re a team,” he replied, taking a step backwards before launching himself off the building. Adrien watched him free fall for a moment, like he was going to splat onto the pavement below, but then a web shot out and he went swinging off.
“Ladybug?” Adrien turned to face his polka-dotted partner. “Can we go detransform, feed our kwamis, then meet back up? I’ve actually got something important to talk to you about.”
“Chat,” she sighed. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to go to the cinema with you, I’ve told you, there’s-”
“Someone else, yeah yeah,” Adrien waved it off, ignoring the slight sting that came with the reminder that Ladybug was enamoured with someone else. “Believe it or not, this isn’t an attempt at flirting.”
A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting atop L’Arc de Triomphe. Adrien swung his legs off the edge, watching the traffic below. Ladybug tentatively took a seat beside him, waiting for him to say something.
“Spiderman knows my identity,” Adrien said at last.
“What? How?” Ladybug’s eyes widened, and he could see her searching his face from his peripherals, trying to gauge his mood. “Did you tell him?”
“No, apparently he’s got…,” Adrien’s voice trailed off as something dawned on him. “He told me his suit has an iris scanner, and it matched me up with me in real life. But he’s lying.”
“He’s lying?” Ladybug didn’t follow.
“Do you think my eyes look like this all the time?” Adrien pointed at his eyes, his pupils in their typical vertical slits. “When I’m Chat Noir, they’re like a cat’s eyes. Therefore, my iris actually changes shape to accommodate the pupil, meaning that Spiderman’s suit couldn’t have identified me through my irises alone. So why would he lie about that?”
Ladybug hummed, thoughtful. “He seems like a good guy. He respects the whole identity thing, I’m sure. Meaning, he found out on accident. You know how sometimes you find out stuff you didn’t mean to find? And it completely changes things? That’s probably what happened with Spiderman.”
“You’re not mad?” Adrien whispered, turning to face her. God, she was so beautiful. Her skin was glowing in the autumn sun, her blue eyes sparkling, her lips and cheeks rosy.
“Why would I be mad?”
“Well, now he knows, and you don’t.”
“Maybe I don’t want to know,” Ladybug replied honestly. Adrien blinked.
“You don’t?”
“We’ve known each other for awhile now, and I honestly can’t imagine you as anyone other than Chat Noir. And as dumb as it sounds, I’m still not ready to let go of this team we’ve got going on.”
Adrien playfully bumped her shoulder with his. “Knowing who I am doesn’t have to change anything.”
“Chaton, no matter who you are, it will change our partnership. Trust me. And I’m not ready for that. It either changes things noticeably, or we lie to ourselves and pretend we’re still the same when in reality we’re not.”
“Who’s to say it would change for the bad? Maybe you’d wind up really liking who was beneath all this leather,” Adrien gave her a wicked grin, but he couldn’t stop his gaze from dropping down to her lips. If only….
“I don’t have to know who you are to know that you mean nothing but trouble,” Ladybug pushed his shoulder. “The poor people who have to put up with you on a day to day basis.”
“No one puts up with me on a daily basis,” Adrien said truthfully. “I sit at home and save all my energy for you, My Lady.”
“Guess that’s why you’re such a massive dork,” Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Maybe some more social interaction would do you good.”
“Are you suggesting we spend more time together?” He practically sang. “Because I’d never say no to that.”
“That is not what I’m saying. Didn’t you say the other day that you had a friend? Why don’t you go spend time with them?”
“I’d much rather-” Adrien stopped himself, suddenly remembering Peter. Peter, who he’d left sitting in a coffee shop a few hours ago. Peter, who was undoubtedly wondering where Adrien had disappeared off to. “I just remembered I have a previous arrangement.” He stood up.
“Goodnight, Chat,” Ladybug laughed.
“Goodnight, My Lady,” he bowed before taking off at full speed back towards his house.
He detransformed in his room, immediately pulling out his phone. Two missed calls from Peter, and twice that many texts. Whoops.
Knocking on Peter’s bedroom door, Adrien rocked back on his heels, thinking about how he’d explain his absence this time. Got whipped by the akuma? That didn’t explain why it had taken him so long to get home. Got whipped by the akuma and cha-cha slid into the metro station and onto a train, now that was more reasonable.
He didn’t wind up needing an excuse, after all, as Peter simply opened the door, said, “there you are, what do you want to watch?” And then they were settling down to watch Tangled.
It didn’t take Peter long to uncover Adrien’s hidden talent when it cropped up the second he started singing along to the first musical score.
“You didn’t tell me you could sing too?” Peter said accusingly, turning to face Adrien on the couch.
“Sorry, I should’ve included it when I introduced myself to you,” Adrien nodded. “Hello, my name is Adrien Agreste, I’m a Libra, and I can kinda sing, on occasion.”
“Wait, hold up. You’re a Libra? I’m a Leo. When’s your birthday?” Peter waved his hands in the air frantically.
“Uh, October tenth,” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck.
“Dude! That’s in two days! When were you gonna tell me so I could get a present? Also, we’re birthday twins, but three months apart! How awesome is that?”
Adrien blinked, trying to decide what part of Peter’s verbal word dump to respond to first. “You don’t have to get me anything, my father usually doesn’t.”
Peter’s expression was nothing short of scandalized. “Then I definitely have to get you something. Now shut up, unless you’re going to drop any more bombshells on me. They’re about to start ‘I’ve Got a Dream’.”
Well, I can think of one more bombshell…, Adrien thought. He pushed that thought away, shoving it right back where it came from so he could focus on singing his heart out with Peter.
“You know, you’re practically Rapunzel,” Peter pointed out. “You didn’t leave the house forever, you’ve got blond hair and green eyes, you can both sing, overly protective guardians, the works.”
“I left the house when I was homeschooled. I wasn’t locked up in a tower,” Adrien rolled his eyes.
“But you kinda missed out on a huge chunk of social development. I bet you never even got The Talk.”
“What’s The Talk?” Adrien racked his brain, trying to think of what Peter could be talking about. The eight point fashion talk? The diet talk? The silk versus velvet talk?
“The sex talk, man! You’ve never had health class?”
“Uh, no?”
“That’s it, I am officially cockblocking you from Ladybug until you know what a condom is,” Peter said, leaning back on the couch.
“I know what a condom is!” Adrien sputtered. He could tell from the heat rushing to his cheeks that he was blushing. “Ladybug and I aren’t-we’re not…Peter!” Peter was simply cackling at the look on his friend’s face.
“Adrien?” Both Adrien and Peter jumped at the sound of Gabriel Agreste’s voice as he entered the room, eyes falling on the movie playing in front of them, then on Peter.
“Dad? I uh, wasn’t expecting to see you at this time in the evening,” Adrien said, hastily pausing the movie.
“Dad?” Peter said. “Oh, you must be the father! Of Adrien!” He stumbled over his French a bit and Adrien internally cringed.
“Yes, you must be the American,” Adrien’s dad said, frigid as ever.
“Yeah! It’s so cool of you to have me here, it’s a pretty sick house!” Peter said, using the incorrect version of ‘sick’ before Adrien could stop him.
“I suggest you two don’t stay up too late, it is a school night,” Gabriel said, shoes clicking against the floor as he walked down the hall, having checked in on his son for the first time in three days.
“Peter, you can’t use ‘malade’ as slang for ‘sick’ like you do in English,” Adrien sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You just told my dad you think his house is ill. As in, like, nauseating. But with really bad grammar.”
“Sounds like success to me!” Peter said, reaching over to unpause the movie. “He didn’t even teach his son how to avoid procreation, he doesn’t deserve compliments.”
“Can you just shut up about this at least until the movie’s over? It feels wrong, talking about sex while watching a children’s cartoon.”
“So you admit, you know what sex is?”
“Peter, I’m turning sixteen in two days. Of course I…just shut up.”
“Gimme your phone.” Adrien sighed, handing it to Peter with a roll of his eyes, returning his attention to the movie. It wasn’t like Peter could do anything with it, Adrien had changed his password after Peter’s stint at the clothing store.
As if determined just to prove him wrong, Peter was in his phone within seconds, scrolling through his contacts.
“Hey! What?” Adrien made a grab for his phone but Peter veered away, holding it out of his reach as he typed quickly. “How’d you get past my passcode?”
“I’m good with tech,” Peter said, voice strained as he leaned over the arm of the couch. “Okay, here you go.”
Adrien took his phone back, looking at his most recent text messages, but there was nothing there except Peter’s own texts from earlier. “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I don’t trust you in the slightest.”
Peter’s own phone rang and he pulled it out, glancing at it quickly. “That’s Alya. I’ve got to take it, goodnight.”
“We’re watching a movie!” Adrien protested as Peter answered the phone with an overly cheerful ‘coucou!’.
“Movie’s over,” Peter gestured to the rolling credits. “Keep your lunch period free tomorrow.” And with that, Peter left the room, striking up a conversation with Alya on the other end.
“Those two are scheming,” Adrien grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Scheming? Sounds like you’re just not used to being excluded.” Plagg, Adrien’s black cat kwami, zipped out from where he’d been hiding in Adrien’s shirt. “Have you really never had the talk?”
Adrien regarded Plagg with no small amount of contempt. “If I bribe you with cheese, will you drop it?”
“Naturally. It’s rude to talk with my mouth full.” Plagg swooped through the air, following him closely as Adrien bent down to open the cheese fridge. The smell of Camembert filled the room and Adrien couldn’t help his instinctive nose wrinkle. Plagg’s love for cheese only strengthened his own aversion. He wondered half-heartedly if Ladybug’s kwami was as picky. Probably not. Unlike him, Ladybug had her act together. She was radiant, bringing light into everyone’s lives. Her kwami probably loved her.
“Uh oh, you’re thinking of Ladybug again,” Plagg said, swallowing loudly. “Do I need to go hide in the loft and give you a minute to yourself or is this a kind of sharing emotions moment?”
Adrien felt his face grow hot. “This would be a sharing emotions moment, if you were the sort who liked talking about emotions.”
“Hey, that’s unfair. I can be physically present whilst you ‘rant’ or whatever. I can’t promise I’ll be emotionally invested or even listening, but at least I’ll be here. It’s either me or that kid with the bad accent, and I doubt you can be nearly as open with him.”
“Okay, fine,” Adrien said, walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth. “Here’s the deal. Ladybug doesn’t want to know who I am.”
“And that’s bad?”
“Well, yeah! I was totally prepared to be open with her and be like ta-dah! I’m Adrien Agreste and I’m in love with you.”
“Why is revealing yourself and you two getting together always synonymous in your mind?”
“Because once I reveal myself, there won’t be anything stopping us from getting together!”
“Did you miss the part where Ladybug rejected Chat Noir because she was in love with someone else? Do you really think her feelings are going to go out the window once she realizes you’re hot under all that leather too?”
Adrien quirked an eyebrow. “I think I liked it better when you weren’t contributing. You’re not exactly helping matters.”
“I’m a kwami of destruction, not of romance. I think you need to just pick someone who’s not Ladybug to get with in real life, then you won’t be this torn up about it.”
“I don’t want anyone other than Ladybug. She’s perfect.”
Plagg let out a snort of derision, flying away. “I’m done!”
That just left Adrien and his very sorry looking reflection. “You, Adrien Agreste, are enough. You’re good enough,” he repeated to himself. “It doesn’t matter if others see it like that or not, as long as you believe it, that’s all you need. If you believe it, others will too.” He wasn’t sure where his nightly mantra had originated from, but the message was important. Sometimes he felt caught between his two identities; superhero Chat Noir and supermodel Adrien Agreste. He knew he was Chat Noir in his heart, but every day it was Adrien who greeted him in the mirror, Adrien who others would see. Everyone except Ladybug. She liked Chat for who he was, not because she was a fan of either of his personas.
But she doesn’t love you, his brain nagged. She likes you, but that’s never going to be enough for you, now is it?
It was with great difficulty that he turned his thoughts off and went to sleep, tossing and turning throughout the night.
“Good morning! You slept late!” Peter was chipper, way too chipper as they slid into the car, ready to head to school. He was right. Adrien had slept through his alarm, only waking when Nathalie barged into his room, telling him he was going to be late.
“Yeah, I don’t wanna hear it,” Adrien said, resting his head on Peter’s shoulder, desperate to catch a few more minutes of sleep before they reached the school. But of course, the ride was too short. He’d just closed his eyes when Peter was shaking him awake and practically dragging him up the front steps.
“Not that anyone will be complaining, but this outfit is a bit different than usual,” Peter commented, looking him up and down. Adrien glanced down, unsure of what Peter meant, and could’ve died on the spot. He was still in his pyjamas.
Granted, his pyjamas weren’t too embarrassing, that night he’d just worn a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants, but the shirt was a bit tighter than the clothes he was used to wearing to school, and he’d picked the sweatpants with the broken waist elastic, and they kept hanging low around his hips, revealing his Agreste brand boxer briefs. All he’d managed to grab in his half-asleep daze was a plum suit jacket.
“You couldn’t have told me before we left?” Adrien hissed, pulling his emergency supply of safety pins out of his bag, unsure of how he was going to use them but determined to do something.
“I seem to recall you saying something about not wanting to hear it. Let’s fix your hair, it’s all over the place and there’s no way we’re going to get it to lay flat before classes start, not if you don’t have a brush.”
“What do you have in mind?”
What Peter had in mind turned out to be dragging Adrien over to where Marinette and Alya were sitting, minding their business, and giving a very convincing sales pitch.
“Okay, which one of you lovely ladies would like the extreme pleasure of braiding Mr. Agreste’s hair before class starts?” Peter grinned at them as Adrien glowered at his back, running his own hands through his hair, attempting to flatten it.
“Marinette is so good at braiding!” Alya supplied. “Plus, Peter and I have some things to discuss. We’ll leave you to it!” They left, whispering, and Adrien stood awkwardly in front of Marinette who seemed to have frozen in place.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” he offered.
“No! I mean, no, it’s fine, I’m just not sure if it’ll turn out well or not.” She tumbled over her words in a typical Marinette fashion and he chuckled slightly.
“Well, I’m not too concerned about looking good, I’ve already shown up in my pyjamas.” He grinned at her, doing his best to ease the tension, almost surprised when her eyes landed around his abdomen. “Sorry, the waistband’s broken, they keep falling,” he grumbled, pulling his sweats back up.
“Uh…Sit here.” Marinette gestured in front of her, pulling out a hairbrush and elastics. Obediently, Adrien nestled himself in front of her, leaning back against her knees. Within a few moments he was in heaven, relishing the feeling of her fingers working his hair into a more manageable state. He was used to hairdressers playing with his hair, but something about this one time felt different. Small sighs kept escaping his lips, and he had no doubt that if he was Chat Noir he’d be purring. Too soon she was done, tying the elastics around the bottom.
He reached up, feeling his hair in two French braids. “Perfect,” he winked at her.
“They’re not my best, but…,” she trailed off, jumping when the bell rang. Peter and Alya returned, sly smiles on their faces.
“Marinette, I won’t be able to make it to lunch,” Alya said. “Peter and I have to tutor Adrien.”
“Uh…okay?” Marinette looked between Adrien, Alya, and Peter.
“Don’t look at me, I have no clue what they’re planning,” Adrien said, holding up his hands defensively.
“We’re planing on giving him the sex talk,” Peter beamed. “Can you believe he’s never taken a health class in his life?” The sound that Adrien let out could only be compared to a rat being stepped on. It was a sort of squeak that ripped up his throat and left him coughing after.
Marinette looked exactly how Adrien felt. Like she wanted a hole to open up in the ground, swallowing her whole.
“The bell rang, we can’t be late!” Alya chirped, dragging Marinette off.
Adrien had never dreaded a lunch hour so much in his life. Unfortunately, that only seemed to make it come faster, unhindered by his silent prayers for an akuma attack. Seemed as though the Papillon wanted Adrien to get his education too.
Peter and Alya had selected a secluded spot under a tree at the edge of the school grounds to conduct their lesson. When Adrien reluctantly joined them, Peter already had a PowerPoint open on his laptop.
“Welcome to your first lesson, Adrien,” Alya said seriously. “We have fired Gabriel Agreste from his position as your father, as he has provided you with an inadequate amount of information about this subject. From here on out, Peter and I are your father.”
“Okay.” Adrien blinked at them. Peter pressed the space bar on his laptop, the screen spinning around before filling with the words, ‘Your body and why it hates you’.
“So, let’s kick this off!” Peter seemed way too thrilled to be there. “I trust you probably have a pretty good understanding of what’s going on with you, but just to be sure, let’s cover sexual attraction and what controls it! Now, here’s our good friend Mr. Testosterone and estrogen estradiol!”
“Peter, I know all this stuff already, we don’t have to cover it. Really, I think I’ve figured that out on my own.” That was a bit of a lie; Adrien had no idea what an estrogen estradiol was or if it was a ‘what’, but he wasn’t about to admit it.
“Confident, are we?” Alya said. “Let’s get into female reproductive anatomy.” She skipped ahead a few slides and began to lecture Adrien on the subject. It was the first he’d ever heard of menstruation as Alya walked him through the fertility cycle. Well, that wasn’t true either. He’d heard girls mention it before, but he’d never really known how it worked, a situation which Alya was currently rectifying.
Ever the diligent student, he made a few notes on his tablet. Cramps, bleeding, mood swings; it didn’t sound fun.
“Any questions?” Peter concluded. “No? Good. Now it’s time for safe sex.”
“I know how to-”
“I guarantee you don’t,” Alya said. “I’ll let Peter take this one.”
“Okay,” Peter turned the computer towards himself slightly, reading off the screen. “So, when used correctly, birth control as a for of contraception is ninety-nine point seven percent successful. Meaning you can still get pregnant, even if it’s used perfectly. Well, not you. But whoever you’re with. So it’s better to use a condom if you’re not ready for the financial and emotional burden that is a child. Let’s put your skills to the test.” He finished reciting, handing Adrien a banana and a square package.
“What’s this?”
“Put it on,” Alya said. Adrien nodded slowly, carefully accepting the items from Peter. The condom package was harder to open than he’d expected and he felt extra pressured with an audience.
“I really didn’t expect you to fail this early on,” Peter commented, leaning back against the tree. Adrien resisted the urge to roll his eyes, finally managing to tear through the foil. He breathed a sigh of frustration, grabbing the banana and going to shove the condom onto it.
“Aggressive much?” Alya said. Adrien wasn’t enjoying himself as he tried to stretch the rubber over the banana’s stubborn peel. It just wasn’t working and he was growing more annoyed and- whoops.
“How’d you manage to stab the banana through the condom?” Peter said with wonder. “I’ve never seen one rip like that, they’re usually pretty sturdy. Remind me not to buy this brand ever.”
“Adrien would you ever manhandle your dick like that?” Alya asked incredulously.
“I, uh…didn’t mean to do that, obviously.” He sat the ruined experiment down beside him.
“It’s all about patience,” Peter said. “Which brings us to our next point! When is it a good time to have sex! Number one: when you have consent from your partner! Consent is sexy. Number two: when you feel as though you’re ready.”
“How do I know I’m ready?”
“Hmm?” Peter tilted his head, looking away from his holy grail PowerPoint. “I didn’t write anything down about that, so I don’t know.”
“I’ll answer that,” Alya said. “You’ll be able to tell when the moment is right. There won’t be any pressure or anything, it’ll just feel natural. Don’t worry Adrien, you’ll know it when you feel it.” Just then the bell rang, ending Adrien’s lesson early.
“I’ll send you the rest of the PowerPoint, you can read through it on your own time and get back to us with any questions,” Peter said as they headed back to class.
“Great, thanks,” Adrien said, wishing he could forget the whole ordeal as soon as possible.
“And now that you’ve had the talk, you have my permission to bang Ladybug,” Peter grinned.
“You’re going to bang Ladybug?” Alya practically screeched. “Why didn’t I know? I want to bang Ladybug before you corrupt her, Agreste.”
“Corrupt?”
“Yes, corrupt! You and your stupid green eyes, perfect hair and teeth and skin and body and fashion sense!” Alya waved an arm at him. Adrien couldn’t help but feel as though this really wasn’t the day for compliments like that, given his current fashion situation, but he accepted it with a gracious nod nonetheless. “Girls just fall in love with you left and right, it’s offensive!”
“You’re being ridiculous,” Adrien waved her off. “No one’s falling in love with me. I’m just me.”
“That’s the thing! You’re so…so…gentlemanly! You’re so nice! And perfect! It’s infuriating, actually.” Alya crossed her arms over her chest, turning away from him just as Marinette walked up to them.
“Hey guys! How was lunch?”
“Great, Adrien is now licensed to fuck,” Peter said. Adrien wanted to smack him but settled for blushing profusely.
“And apparently he’s planning on getting busy with Ladybug too!” Alya bemoaned. “The betrayal!”
“I’m not doing anything with anyone,” Adrien said firmly. The expression on Marinette’s face made him want to shut the conversation down right then and there. “Especially not Ladybug. Let’s just go to class.”
He grabbed Peter’s arm, pulling him into class. “Look, you made her upset,” he said, pointing to Marinette, who was staring at the table, obviously unhappy. Peter glanced at her, sparing a moment’s sympathy before turning to him.
“Hey, I didn’t do anything! Blame Alya, man, she’s the one who let out the Ladybug thing.”
“Marinette’s my friend, I don’t want to ruin anything between us because of a stupid comment.”
“Nothing ruined. So, you gonna see Ladybug anytime soon?”
Chat Noir would be seeing her tonight. Adrien, however, had no idea when his civilian self would interact with her again. “I don’t know. She comes and goes, you know.”
“Do you think if you did see her again, you’d make a move?” Adrien really wasn’t used to the amount of interest Peter was taking in his love life.
“Do you have anyone you’re interested in?” He interrupted quickly.
“There was one girl, but her dad turned out to be a weapons dealer who tried to kill me at homecoming and she moved away, so no.” Peter said it as casually as if he’d mentioned that he had two cats and grew his own basil. Adrien chose not to comment. So far every conversation about Peter’s life in New York had wound up with him talking about someone who had died/almost died. He was starting to get the vibe that Peter’s personal life was a bit of a disaster.
School was over soon enough, thank god, and Peter watched Adrien practice his piano after school. Adrien wasn’t really used to actually practicing the piano, let alone with an audience, so he played one of the easier pieces he knew.
“Is that Bob Dylan?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, Knocking On Heaven’s Door,” Adrien replied, fingers dancing over the keys. “My dad used to love this song before…before he stopped listening to music like that. We always were a musical family, and I’d sit here and practice and my mom would sing. She had the loveliest voice, you know? I always wanted to sound like her, but it’s impossible to imitate perfection.” He threw a small smile Peter’s way before focusing on increasing the complexity of the piece. “Sorry if I’m rambling.”
“It’s a beautiful song,” Peter commented. “You’re a good player- that’s not the right word. Pianist? Yeah, you’re a good pianist. I’m sure she’d be proud.”
“I haven’t improved since,” Adrien admitted. He was good, sure, but his music lacked something, and he didn’t know what.
“Makes sense,” Peter said. “You’re missing your muse.”
“My muse?”
“Sure. You just need to channel your emotions into the music. You need to find someone to play that duet with you, someone who will sing the words while you play. Harmony or something. I’m not a music person.”
“I can tell,” Adrien laughed. “It’s just funny that music was once such a huge part of my identity, and now it’s just another thing I have to do. Playing Bach, Mozart, whatever, it doesn’t make me happy like it used to.”
“Then just write your own stuff.”
“You say that like it’s easy.”
“Cuz it is,” Peter said. “See, you just sit here like buh do bah dum, lots of emotional stuff. It’s cathartic, I’ve heard.”
“You’re going to be a real superstar,” Adrien said sarcastically, beginning a chord progression to lead into Pachabel’s Canon in D Major. It was another one of his favourites, probably his dream song for a wedding. He let his thoughts drift to Ladybug, wondering if she would be his bride. It was a foolish dream, for sure, but he indulged in it just this once.
“There!” Peter said. “That’s it, you’ve got inspiration! See how much better it sounds?”
He was right. Adrien wasn’t playing how the song was supposed to be played, throwing staccatos and grace notes in when he felt like it, emphasizing other notes too. It was mildly liberating.
“It’s been nice, but I’ve got homework,” Peter said glumly. As soon as he left, Adrien went back to Bob Dylan. This time he took Peter’s advice, pouring his soul into it. The chords sounded brand new, the melody taking on a new meaning in his heart. He was singing before he realized it, not caring about how he sounded, simply allowing himself to take a moment to himself. Just one little moment where nothing in the world existed except him and his music.
“It’s getting dark,” he sang to himself, ignoring the way a tear slipped out from the corner of his eye and down his cheek. “Too dark to see.” He had a perfect life on the outside. People would love to be him; adored him. But to be adored was to be lonely if there was no real love.
He invented a run in the song, his voice breaking on the top note as emotion overwhelmed him. He just felt so tired. Both hands fell from the piano with an ugly clunk of random notes as he buried his face in his palms, letting tears he’d been holding back for far too long fall. It’d been so long, Adrien didn’t even know why he was crying. Not even Plagg had anything to say.
“I’m sorry, I’ll go.” The voice startled him, his breath hitching in his throat as he looked up, only to see Ladybug standing in his window, looking down at him with concern.
“No, please,” he whispered. “Stay.” Ladybug tentatively climbed down from the window, crossing the room to sit next to him on the bench, carefully putting an arm around him. He leaned into her, breathing in the sweet scent that always seemed to follow her, like bread and strawberries.
“Are you okay?” She whispered, bringing Adrien back to his senses.
“Yeah, that song always gets me in my feels, though.” He let out a shaky breath. “Things are actually going really well.” He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, ignoring the dark splotches his tears left. “What are you doing here? Not that I’m complaining.”
Ladybug looked like a deer caught in headlights. “I, uh, heard the music, and it sounded really good, so I was just going to come tell you.”
“I was playing that loud?”
“No, I’ve just got really good hearing.” Was Ladybug…blushing? “Do you want to play me something?”
“Any requests?” Adrien said, cracking his knuckles.
“What songs do you know how to play?”
“I can play anything.” He gave her a grin that was borderline Chat Noir-esque, but he was feeling risky. “What mood are you feeling? Upbeat? Happy? Sad? Romantic?” He raised an eyebrow slowly, leaning closer to her, eyes dropping to her lips. To his absolute delight, Ladybug was leaning closer, eyes slowly closing and-
BANG!
The floor shook slightly with the sound of an explosion coming from the next room over. Adrien leapt to his feet. “Peter!”
“I’m fine!” He called back. “Don’t come in! I just dropped…something.”
“That was a very loud something,” Adrien said.
“I should go,” Ladybug moved towards the window, readying her yoyo. “It was nice seeing you again, Adrien.”
“You too,” Adrien waved, trying to push the fact that he had been thisclose to kissing Ladybug from his mind. Something told him he’d be replaying that moment in his head for weeks to come, though.
Dinner was a blur. Adrien scarfed down his food as fast as possible, eager to get out and on patrol. Peter matched his energy, apparently just as excited to get back to his homework. Adrien hadn’t even remembered any being assigned. Maybe he had to do something for his other school? It didn’t really matter, it was one less thing Adrien had to worry about as they bade each other a goodnight.
He was way too early for patrol; the sun was still setting. Adrien was just kind of running around, hoping Ladybug would see him and join him too. After about half an hour of running, he started to get tired, so he sat himself down on a random rooftop, staring out at the sunset.
“Chat?” He turned, almost surprised to see Spiderman standing there.
“You early for patrol too?” Adrien tried to hide his disappointment at the superhero’s appearance. He appreciated Spidey, for sure, but he really just wanted some time alone with his Lady.
“Only to pass on a message,” he said, making no move to sit down. “I have to go to London tonight, something cropped up. I won’t be able to do patrol, but if anything major happens, Ladybug has my contact. I can get here in thirty minutes, give or take. Otherwise, have a good night!” And with that he was gone.
“Well, that was easier than I thought,” Adrien mused aloud. Now it really was just going to be him and Ladybug, if she ever showed up. As if she could read his thoughts from afar, there she was, a red dot a few blocks away, swinging from building to building. Chat waved excitedly, a massive grin on his face.
Calm down, don’t lose your mind, he reminded himself, taking a deep breath as she landed in front of him. “Hey.”
“Hi?” Ladybug looked at him curiously. “Are you okay? You’re looking at me weird.”
“I was simply left speechless by your beauty,” he quipped, leaning down to brush a kiss against her knuckles. Naturally, she drew her hand away.
“Oh so it’s one of those nights. Where’s Spiderman.”
“He had some business to attend to in London,” Adrien said, leaning closer to her. “Looks like it’s just you and me, Buginette.”
“For the love of god,” Ladybug muttered. “It’s a good thing you’re cute, or I would’ve kicked you to the curb long ago.”
“You think I’m cute?” Adrien squealed. “Really?”
Ladybug regarded him with a deadpan expression. “Yeah, like a kitten. Don’t get it all twisted up in that head of yours.”
“My head is empty practically all the time, so whenever My Lady says something, I simply cannot think of anything else! There’s nothing else to distract me.” Adrien flopped down on the roof dramatically, staring up at her. She seemed unimpressed.
“Let’s go, chaton. Paris isn’t going to patrol itself.”
He huffed, annoyed, as she took off into the setting sun. Readying his baton, he resolved that he would simply only patrol until the night really had fallen, then he would retire to the Eiffel Tower and wait for Ladybug to find him. So he got in a real productive twenty minutes of actual work before he decided that enough was enough.
“Chat? There’s no way you’re done already.” Ah, Ladybug had finally arrived. Time to turn on the charm. As if it wasn’t already ramped up as far as it could go.
“I thought we could take an easy night and just kind of hang out,” he suggested, fingers crossed behind his back that she would agree. And for three long seconds it looked like she was going to argue. Then she sighed, shrugging her shoulders, and sat down.
“Fine.”
“So, how have you been?” He sat across from her, eyes never leaving her face. He was partially looking for signs that she’d been overworked; a lot of the time she put on a brave façade, no matter what she was dealing with.
“I’ve been okay,” she said, glancing out at the night sky. “School’s as busy as ever. I’m just glad we haven’t had any really intense akuma attacks lately. I thought bringing Spidey onto the team would cause Papillon to amp them up for sure, but he’s been pretty quiet about the whole thing. It’s making me nervous.”
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” Adrien said. “Just enjoy the downtime while you can.”
“Yeah, I suppose I will,” she said. “My school’s having a fall dance soon, so that’ll be fun.”
He inspected his claws, gears in his head turning. “You’ll want to bring someone strikingly handsome as your date. Someone to be your eye candy, you know? Someone like-”
“I already know the perfect person,” Ladybug interrupted dreamily. Adrien glanced up, surprised, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was gazing off into the distance.
“Oh,” he whispered. “I mean, that’s cool! As long as you have fun.”
“But he probably won’t want to go with me,” Ladybug admitted, looking at him. He quickly masked his own feelings beneath a grin.
“Well he’d be dumb not to, I mean, you’re great. Like really great. Probably even out of the Ladybug costume. No, definitely out of the Ladybug costume. You’re just a great person all around. He’s lucky to be the subject of your affections.” He stumbled over his words a bit, his brain reminding him over and over that Ladybug didn’t really like him, not the way he liked her.
“Thanks, Chat, but I think you’re wrong. I can’t be Ladybug all the time. In real life, I’m clumsy, I can barely stand on my own two feet to the point where I’m not trusted to hold anything breakable, I’m awkward, and I second guess myself all the time.”
He smiled. “Sounds adorable.”
“You’re the only one who would say that,” she laughed. “And you only say that because you’re…”
“In love with you? Yeah, maybe. Or maybe I’m just lucky enough to see how amazing you are. Anyone who’s taken more than two seconds to look at you has fallen head over heels for you, hate to break it to you.”
“Chat…,” she sounded sad. Her eyes wouldn’t meet his as she stared purposefully at the ground.
“It’s fine, My Lady. I really hope things go well for you with that boy. You deserve someone who will make you happy.”
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, I’m sorry,” Ladybug was truly apologetic.
“I don’t want you to not talk to me because you’re worried about hurting my feelings,” Adrien said simply. “As long as you’re happy, I’m happy.”
“But Chat, I don’t want you to be pining after me forever,” Ladybug said, placing a hand over his. “You deserve love too, and I’m sorry I can’t give it to you right now.”
Adrien swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn’t want to cry in front of Ladybug again. Not twice in one day. Granted, she wouldn’t know he’d already cried on her shoulder, but he didn’t want to make her feel bad. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t return his feelings.
“It’s fine, I know you love me in your own way, even if that way isn’t the way I want. You deserve the world, Ladybug, and I know I could never give it to you. The best I can do is the moon and stars and the Paris skyline, but you deserve better.” He turned to her, leaning in before he could second guess himself and pressing a chaste kiss to her cheek. A friendly one. Ladybug was frozen beneath him.
“Goodnight, My Lady,” he said, readying his baton and heading out into the night.
Home seemed lonelier than usual. He detransformed and headed into Peter’s room, only to find a small note left on his desk, explaining that he’d been called out as part of the Stark internship and may or may not be back for school in the morning. Peter had only been there for a few days and already Adrien was having difficulty remembering life without him. And now the house felt empty without him.
He headed back to his room, attempting to block Ladybug from his mind. But that was difficult to do when everything reminded him of her. Knowing he couldn’t stay there, he gave Plagg some more cheese, begging him to transform him again. Begrudgingly, Plagg complied, allowing Adrien to vault off into the night in search of the only other person he could talk to in the suit.
As sneakily as a cat, Adrien landed on Marinette’s roof, carefully wrapping his knuckles against the skylight. It was only a few moments before she opened it, poking her head out. She seemed surprised to see him.
“Hey Princess,” he said with a lopsided grin. “I know it’s late, but I could really just use a friend right now.”
“Come on in,” Marinette said, disappearing back into her room. He willingly followed her. “Let me grab you something to eat, and a blanket. You’re shivering.” Adrien hadn’t even realized he was cold until she pointed it out. She left to go downstairs, soon returning with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of assorted cookies.
“My parents are already in bed since they have to wake up early to get started in the bakery, so the cookies aren’t fresh from the oven, but-”
“They’re perfect,” he said, accepting the mug she offered him.
“And here’s a kind of blanket thingy,” she held him a grey, fuzzy blob that was a cross between an extremely oversized hoodie and a throw blanket. He pulled it on, instantly feeling warmer. “I make them in my spare time and give them out to those in need, and right now, I’d say you’re in need.”
“Thank you, Marinette.”
“So what brings you here this late, if you don’t mind me asking?” Marinette sat down on her bed, watching him as he strolled around her room. She had a lot of pictures of him. Not Chat Noir. Adrien Agreste.
“Before I answer that, can I ask you why you’ve got all these pictures of that supermodel boy on your walls?”
“We’re friends, and I’m making him something for his birthday, so I needed inspiration.” She was bright red. He decided not to question the artistic process.
“Okay, I guess it’s my turn to answer. I’m here because I’ve accepted that I’m simply just not the guy that Ladybug is interested in. And that’s fine, whatever, it just left me feeling kind of empty. She was talking about this guy she’s into, and how she’s going to ask him to her school’s dance, and the way her eyes lit up when she was talking about him…I just realized there’s no way I can compete with that.” He settled on Marinette’s chaise lounge, staring into his cocoa. “And I’d never admit it to her, but she’d the best part of every day. Whenever I get to see her, it’s like the rest of the world doesn’t exist. I don’t really have anyone to go home to, so I always drag out every time I get to see her because she’s just like the sun. And I’ve tried to move past her, but I really just can’t. I know she loves me as a friend, like a second half, but I’m not good with that sort of thing.”
“What do you mean?” Marinette whispered.
“I’m not good at being loved. I love others, for sure, but whenever someone tells me they love me, a small part of my brain is always telling me they’re lying.”
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
“Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Adrien nodded in recognition of the quote. “My dad never wanted me to read that book. Thought it would inspire teenage rebellion. Spoiler alert, I just checked it out of the library at my school and never told him I read it.”
Marinette laughed. “Oh Chat.”
“I guess there’s some truth in that, though. Who knows if I’d even be able to handle it if Ladybug loved me like that. Guess we’ll never find out though, huh Princess?”
“Maybe one day,” Marinette said. “Who knows what Ladybug is going through right now. Maybe she doesn’t know how to accept your love.”
“God, I hope so. Thanks for listening, Marinette. I won’t keep you up any longer, I know you’ve got school tomorrow. I hope Adrien likes his present.”
“Anytime Chat. You keep that blanket. Wouldn’t want you to get cold on the way back.” She wrapped him up in a butterfly-inducing hug. That wasn’t right. Adrien had never felt like that when she’d hugged him.
You’re tired. You’re imagining things, he told himself as he wished Marinette a goodnight. It had felt good to rant, to get everything off his chest that he couldn’t go to anyone else with. Plus, when he was Chat Noir, Marinette held full conversations with him, never tripping over her words or furniture like she did so often at school. He really liked his Princess.
As a friend, of course.