Adrien
He had been suprised, Marinette had done a complete one-eighty. And it seemed like she might be starting to fall for him too. He liked the idea of that. Of Marinette loving him. He got dressed for school, and made his way out the door. He was going to pick her up again, and see if she called a truce, or decided to continue their little war in private. He would much prefer in private. He would have more fun that way. She didn't seem to mind when he picked her up, but she was kind of quiet.
"Did I take it too far yesterday?"
"Nah, it was actually pretty fun. But I don't think we should continue. Not with how upset Chloe got."
He leaned back, nodding his head. He had already thought about that. Which is how he knew exactly how to respond.
"You're probably right. I was winning of course, but if you'd prefer to bow out, I understand."
"What? You weren't winning."
She snapped, and he glanced over at her. Yep, she was riled up, just like he thought she'd be.
"I was. Ask anyone."
She sat back in her seat, crossing her arms. He could practically see the gears turning in her head, and he smiled. She wasn't going to quit. Not until she won.
"Okay new rule. We are on a truce, unless in private or around close friends."
"Agreed."
He sat down at the lunch table, next to Nino, who seemed jumpy. He had his head close to the table, a hood pulled over his face.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Nothing, just waiting on Alya."
Nino rarely wore hoodies, and he hadn't seen him wear the hood up on one. Something must be wrong. Adrien looked at Marinette, gesturing at Nino.
"What's wrong with him?"
He whispered, and she shrugged. Nino cleared his throat, and they both looked up. Alya was making her way to the table, holding her tray. His hood was off, and his face was painted like a fox. He passed his phone to Marinette, the camera already open.
"Snap some pics for her okay?"
"Wait, what?"
He pulled out something from his pocket, and put on a pair of brown, fuzzy fox ears.
"Dude, what are those?"
Adrien asked as Nino stood up, snatching a poster and a bouquet of orange roses off of the nearby table. Marinette was scrambling to get up as well, holding the phone up. What was going on? Nino jumped up onto the table, and shouted her name.
"Alya!"
She looked away from whoever she was talking to, her jaw dropping. Adrien got up and moved around, reading the poster.
"Will you go to prom with me, for foxs sake?"
Was in bold letters, and a picture of a fox was the background. He covered his mouth to hide his chuckle. He had almost forgotten prom was coming up. Alya was laughing, and Nino jumped down from the table in front of her.
"Yes! I'd love to go with you!"
She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. Adrien grinned, and Marinette stepped up beside him, still snapping pictures.
"Did you know he was going to do that?"
She whispered, and he shook his head.
"Nope. He suprised me on that one."
"Me too. But it was so romantic."
Her voice changed, and he glanced over at her. She was grinning from ear to ear, and he could tell from that one look, it was one of her real smiles. She stepped up closer, and Nino and Alya both turned, giving wide smiles for the camera. Once they had stopped posing, Alya walked over to Marinette, and he made his way to Nino.
"Well that was a surprise."
"I was so nervous."
Nino whispered, and Adrien noticed he was actually shaking.
"It's all right, you did awesome. Alya loved it."
He grinned, patting Nino on the back. Nino nodded, looking over at her. Adrien followed his gaze, but he stopped at Marinette. Would it be weird, to ask her to prom? She was gushing over the flowers, and he felt his heart jump. He couldn't ask her. She was just his friend, and Chat Noir couldn't just show up at her prom. She glanced up, and their eyes locked. There was something hidden in there, something he only remembered catching glimpses of. He could never figure out what it was, because it was always gone as fast as it had come. She looked away, and his gaze dropped to the ground. There was that feeling again. Like they were oceans apart, though she only stood a few feet from him. He felt his phone go off, and he dug it from his pocket. He expected a notification that Alya had posted something, or a text with pictures of the promposal. But it was something else. Something that made his stomach churn. It was a text, from an unknown number, and the words made his blood run cold.
"I know who you are."
He paced back and forth along the building, his heart in his throat. Someone knew. Someone had found out his identity, and somehow got his number. Adrien's number. Ladybug landed next to him, and he turned to her, his panic and anger swirling into an ugly mass of emotions.
"Where have you been? I've been waiting for over an hour."
"Calm down Kitty. I got the text too."
He stared at her, the shock numbing his anger. So they were both screwed. Why wasn't she panicking?
"How did they find out?"
"I don't know. I've been careful. What about you?"
He felt the anger again, and he swallowed hard.
"If you're insinuating that it's my fault, it isn't. I've been careful."
"I wasn't saying that."
She snapped, and he looked out over the skyline. The only person he hadn't really been careful with, was Marinette. But she didn't know who he was. Even if she did know, she'd never tell. He knew that. Had someone seen him going to her house? Ladybug sat down, and he paced behind her. He had always been so careful. Sure, there were close calls, but it never happened.
"Did you text them back?"
"No, did you?"
She shook her head, and he sat down next to her.
"Was it your civilian phone as well?"
"Yeah."
He breathed, closing his eyes. Even Plagg had seemed worried. Plagg rarely worried.
"I'm going to respond when I transform back."
"Why?"
He looked at her, and she was swinging her legs back and forth, like she didn't have a care in the world. What was wrong with her?
"Our best bet, is to find out who they are, and what they want. If their goal was to out us to the world, they wouldn't have given us a warning."
"And if they want our miraculous? Then what?"
She looked at him, and his heart sank. She didn't seem to care anymore.
"Then we deal with the problem. We don't know what their goal is. It might not be that."
"What else would it be? And what do you mean, 'deal with the problem'? What if they're a civilian? We can't just attack them. We're heroes."
She seemed to flinch at his last word, and he frowned at her.
"They have a demand. If we refuse, they spill our secrets to the world. And hawkmoth will know who we are. Hawkmoth will stop at nothing to get the miraculous. Including hunting us down. Essentially, they would be aiding him in our destruction. They're as much of a threat as he is."
Adrien looked away from her, looking down at the city of Paris. Once she spoke of the innocent, of how everyone deserved to be forgiven. Sure, he hated whoever was on the other end of that number. But she seemed indifferent. Kill or be killed.
"Are you okay, my lady?"
"Aren't you exhausted?"
He looked at her, shocked she hadn't deflected his question, like she normally did. Her legs had stopped swinging and she stared at him, her eyes begging him to understand. To feel the same.
"Exhausted?"
"Tired. Whatever you want to call it. Of all the secrets? The responsibility? The constant duty? Don't you ever miss being normal?"
Normal? He hadn't been normal to begin with. Chat became an escape for him. A way to let loose, without the constant battle for approval. Sure, Chat had an image and expectations he had to uphold, but it was nothing compared to Adrien. Maybe she didn't feel the same.
"I was nothing before my miraculous."
"That's not true."
"How would you know? You don't know a thing about me. Not really, and I don't know a thing about you."
She grew quiet, and he shook his head. He wasn't attacking her decision not to reveal their identities. Not anymore.
"You'd give it all up?"
"No. No, of course not. I love Tiki."
"But not Ladybug."
He realized, and her head dipped a little lower. She didn't like Ladybug? How could she not?
"Look. We may have grown apart, but I know now, just as much as i knew then. You were meant to be Ladybug. No one in the city of Paris, probably even the world, was better for the job."
She closed her eyes, a tired smile touching her lips. If he had known this was how she felt, he would have made her talk to him sooner.
"I'm not so sure about that Chat."
"Really? Yesterday, you wrestled an acuma away from Chloe. The other day, you dealt with an acuma by yourself. Even if I had been given the Ladybug miraculous, and you the black cat, I wouldn't have been able to do any of that."
She sighed, and her legs went back to swinging again.
"I'm sorry I've been so distant. Being guardian on top of everything else is hard."
"Maybe I could take it for a little while."
He offered, and she immediately shook her head.
"It's too dangerous to move them. Especially with whoever this person is. I can handle it. I just wish it was easier."
He wanted to tell her he could help, if she would just tell him who she was. He could come over and babysit the box for her. But he was done pushing that topic. She hadn't budged in all the years they had been partners, he knew she wouldn't budge now. He wanted the old Ladybug back. The one who had doubts sure, but always pushed through them. He ran his gaze over her, lingering on her face. She wasn't really the same person he had fallen for. She had changed, but so had he. She stood, grabbing her yo-yo off of her hip.
"I should head home."
He looked up at her, and she offered him a small smile.
"No puns today?"
"Not today."
He smiled back, and she jumped off of the roof, using her yo-yo to scale the buildings across the street. So, some part of him still loved her. And probably always will. She was his first real love, and nothing would change that. Marinette probably felt the same about her mystery guy. So it didn't make him feel guilty. They really were in the same boat together. But he had a new goal. Now that Marinette was more open to falling in love, he wanted it. He wanted her to, and he wouldn't stop until she did. He wanted her to stay in the same boat as him. Because if it was love he felt for Marinette, it was getting stronger every time he saw her. He wanted someone to feel the same, for once.