A/N: A short post-reveal fic in which Marinette and Adrien do the dating-but-not thing and their classmates try and fail to keep up.
At first, no one had noticed it.
It had become a sort of accepted fact to them, that Adrien Agreste, kind and sweet as he is, is rather bad at answering his cell during a crisis. And Marinette, so shy—surely she must be hiding! After all, why else would they vanish without a trace each time an akuma attacks?
They certainly don't try and disperse these rumors. And they always vanish at different times, it seems, and show up from different places… it makes sense, in a convoluted, probably-influenced-by-denial sort of way.
But then—and here's where things get weird—then they start disappearing and reappearing… together.
Adrien passes it off with a nervous laugh and a wave of his hand. He smiles more than he used to, or at least differently. He is the reserved and well-mannered type, except sometimes when he smiles it's more cocky than sweet and every once in a while he'll come out with a joke that makes everyone groan.
But he's still the well-mannered one, even if he seems to be slipping, so they take his half-hearted excuses and agree. Of course it made sense for him to run off! He had a photo shoot! Even if it was, you know, pouring with rain…
Marinette is harder. Everyone and their mother knows about her crush on Adrien—except perhaps Adrien himself, but who knows with him—so her sudden lack of stuttering and outrageous blushing whenever she comes face to with him is rather startling.
So are the smiles she gives him, the ones no one had ever expected sweet, shy Marinette capable of. It's a sly quirk of her mouth, teasing and fond, the smile of a lifelong friend to another except hers has an edge to it, a flirtatious undertone that makes everyone stop because Marinette? Flirting with Adrien? Without falling over herself blushing and stammering and scattering papers everywhere?
Check the skies for flying pigs, as they say.
If anything, these new changes only heighten their suspicions—but Marinette manages to answer absolutely nothing and everything whenever they manage to corner her. She laughs a bit, always nervously, her eyes flickering about, and then she'll start to babble, and before they know it they're talking about something completely different and Marinette has already vanished again, off to speak with Ayla or Adrien.
Everyone knows there is something up with them, a secret the two are keeping under wraps, but no one is entirely sure what. They leave clues lying about with their every action, but none of the pieces make sense, and the picture they form is blurry and incomprehensible.
Because one day out of the blue Adrien Agreste ran through the halls and crashed into Marinette Dupain-Cheng like he couldn't believe she was real, and she stiffened and hugged him back like he was a dream come to life. Because in the span of one night they went from distant acquaintances to something more, but no one can say why or how, and it is maddening how little they know about such a miraculous event.
They don't understand why Adrien howls—howls!—with laughter when Marinette buys him a bell necklace for New Year's, or why all Adrien seems to do is sprout cat puns whenever Marinette is within hearing range.
They don't understand why Adrien looks at her as if she's the stars themselves, and they can't comprehend the aching affection in her eyes when she nudges his shoulder with a gentle fist and says, "You okay?"
They don't understand but they know it exists, this strange not-quite-friendship and not-quite-love that surrounds the two, and all the secrets that bind them together.
Perhaps they will never understand, but that's okay too—because Marinette is kind and sweet and Adrien is well-mannered but actually kind of funny, and they are their friends, so they'll accept them anyway, changes and all.
(Though a little explanation would be nice.)