A/N: Ohh man, I have been super excited about this fic. This idea hit me about three days ago and I've been writing ever since. Seriously, I've been writing for three days straight please send help.

Anyway, the good news about this fic is that it's already finished, and I'm already planning the sequel! So expect an update around every 2 days or so.

This is my first time writing for this fandom and it has been a while since I've seen the show, so please let me know if I make any mistakes! I've always adored the idea of the love square in ML and I definitely had fun with it, so hopefully you guys will as well!

Enjoy!

Who You Are (When You Think I'm Not Looking)

Chapter One: Patrol

Night patrol was never easy, especially when he was on his own.

Usually he tried to keep he and Ladybug's nightly excursions to a minimum; they both needed their sleep during the week and staying out all night guarding the city when they both had tests to study for simply wasn't going to work. And while typically they were on night patrol together (like they did everything), Ladybug had said that she just couldn't tonight, and if he needed anything, he could call her.

Weird.

It's not that he didn't respect her private life or anything, but naturally, he couldn't help but be curious. Although he knew his Lady very well, he didn't at the same time. He didn't completely know the girl under the mask; he only knew what she allowed him to know. Yet he could very easily name her favorite food and the TV shows she kept up with on a weekly basis.

It was close to midnight now and Chat Noir had finally decided that it was time to call it quits. He imagined that even villains like Hawkmoth had to sleep, after all. He was human just like them, or at least, he thought he was. Certainly he wouldn't be sending out any akumas this late at night… hopefully. He wouldn't really be fond of the idea of waking up at two in the morning to fight an akuma, and neither would his Lady. In fact, the image of a Ladybug whose sleep had been interrupted was a rather scary one.

He sighed as he hurried along the streets of Paris. He had a feeling that Plagg was running out of energy and that it was only a matter of time before he changed back. He swore that sometimes Plagg wasn't even really tired, just really lazy. He was about to pull out his staff to speed things up, but paused when he heard a familiar feminine voice.

"…don't know what I'm doing wrong, Alya."

Alya?

He stopped to listen for the voice again. From where he was it was difficult to hear, but it sounded like the voice came from above him. (Unfortunately, having the appearance of a cat didn't come with the hearing of one)

"…I think it's probably pretty obvious, right? But no matter what I do, he just…"

Her voice trailed out of his hearing range. He swore he knew that voice, and the fact that the girl had mentioned Alya suggested that she was probably in his class.

"Is it just me?"

No way… is it Marinette?

He looked around to find the street he was on. "Duh, of course! Marinette lives around here."

So, Marinette on the phone with Alya. Nothing new or out of the ordinary there, the two were practically glued at the hip. He really, really should be heading home but… damn it, he's curious. Who was Marinette talking about? She had mentioned a 'he'… was there a guy she liked? It's not his place to pry, it really, honestly isn't. But the idea of Marinette having a crush on someone made him feel a bit… strange. Of course it was none of his business, but imagining her having some random guy with her all the time didn't sit very well with him.

And besides, when has he ever done what he should?

"It'll be quick," he told himself as he made his way up to Marinette's balcony. He perched himself on the edge, flat against the wall right next to her door so as not to be spotted, and listened intently.

"I try to talk to him, but I can't even form proper sentences around him! I just get so embarrassed and I end up saying the wrong thing…"

Chat covered his mouth with his hand to stifle a chuckle. An embarrassed, blushing Marinette was probably a sight to see, all red cheeks and stammers. It's cute. Adorable, even.

"I don't know Alya, it just seems like nothing ever goes right with us. Something is always getting in the way. If I could just get five minutes to talk with Adrien and properly tell him how I feel…"

He felt his heart break for her. If he could, he would find some way to help the poor girl out and allow her some alone time with Adri-

Wait.

Wait.

…What?!

Chat inadvertently fell off the railing, clinging to the door handle to keep from falling to the ground. Once he successfully regained his balance, he placed a hand on his chest in an attempt to calm his raging heart.

"Marinette… likes me? No, wait, she likes Adrien… Adrien, not Chat Noir… but still… Marinette likes me?!"

Before he can ponder on it further, he heard Marinette's voice again. "Hold on Alya, I heard a noise on the balcony…"

"Shit, shit! Abort mission, abort!"

Chat hurriedly scrambled to get off of the balcony rails, making a not so graceful landing into the bushes below, falling right onto his rear end.

"Whoever said that cats always landed on their feet was a dirty liar."

"…Huh. Weird, I thought I heard something. Anyway…"

He heard his ring reminding him that he had another five minutes tops before he changed back. With all the strength he had left, he staggered to his feet and rushed home, his heart still racing and his cheeks burning red. Thankfully none of the security guards saw him sneaking in through the window; otherwise his father would've lectured him again on "sneaking out". It seemed that the only time his father ever wanted to pay attention to him was to get on his case about something.

Just as he collapsed onto the plush sheets of his bed, Plagg did the same, plopping down right next to his head and heaving an exhausted sigh.

"Hey… kid, do me a favor… next time… don't stay out late stalking pretty girls."

Adrien gaped at him, clearly offended by the insinuation. "I wasn't stalking her!" he insisted.

Plagg groggily floated over to the nightstand and curled up beside the alarm clock. "Weirdo."

Adrien waved him off. "Yeah yeah, whatever. There's more Camembert in the fridge if you want it."

"Thanks but no thanks, for once I'm too tired to eat, no thanks to you and your stalking habits."

"I'm not a stalker!"

"Staaaallllkerrrr."

"Whatever Plagg, goodnight."

Within mere minutes he heard the sound of Plagg's snores filling the room. Oh well. He figured it was going to be a sleepless night anyway.

All this time Marinette had liked him, and he had never noticed. And now that he thought back on it… how? It was painfully obvious, and he had totally missed it! Was he that blinded by his feelings for Ladybug that he couldn't see Marinette's rather obvious feelings towards him? He then remembered all of her awkwardly cute smiles, the way she stuttered and blushed when she spoke to him, the way she was so quick to defend him against Chloe or anyone else for that matter. How had he not seen it? She liked him, she has for a long time now, and he was just now noticing because he was a blind idiot.

A feeling of dread suddenly settled in the pit of his stomach as he came to a nearly horrifying realization. Because as much as he may like Marinette, she was not his Lady, and he was hardly the Adrien she imagined him to be. Even if he did feel that way towards Marinette, he couldn't imagine keeping his secret from her. A relationship wasn't a relationship if one or both of them had to lie.

He couldn't let this continue to go on. It was going to hurt her, but it was for the best in the long run. She would get over him eventually and he would be able to love his Lady without feeling guilty.

"Liar. Now you'll always feel guilty for loving her."

It's not like he can help his feelings. He is in love with Ladybug, he knows he is. It's not like he can just magically start having feelings for someone else. But that would certainly make things easier, wouldn't it?

It sucks, Marinette may hate him afterwards, but it was for the best. No more leading her on.

Tomorrow, he was going to break a heart.

Marinette had a strange feeling about the day. Although she always tried to be positive and optimistic, today just seemed… off. She didn't necessarily have anything to be worried about. There were no upcoming tests and so far, there weren't any signs of akumas.

"Knowing my luck, Hawkmoth will attack while I'm at school today."

It wouldn't be the first time.

Perhaps it was the weather. As she stepped outside she noticed the steely gray sky and the heavy rainfall. Thankfully she had remembered an umbrella this time. Shaking her head, she tried to push down the eerie feeling in favor of an upbeat attitude. "Today will be a good day… it will definitely be a good day…"

She sighed in relief when she spotted the school coming into her view, and even picked up her pace. Admittedly, she was practically dying to get out of the rain. But as the school grew closer and closer, that feeling grew stronger. It wasn't that she necessarily wanted to be in school, but going had never caused her this much trouble before.

When she reached the stairs, she moved her hand to take the umbrella down so she could go inside, but froze when she heard a familiar voice.

"Marinette."

She nearly fell over as she turned on her heels to face him, her cheeks burning upon eye contact. "A-Adrien," she stuttered. "Good morning."

He smiled, but it wasn't his usual bright smile. It was… somber. Reserved. It reminded her of the fake smiles he would plaster on for the front cover of his father's next magazine. As a model he had to make all sorts of expressions, but her favorites were the real, natural ones. They only made him look even more beautiful. Was that even possible?

"Good morning. I, uh… I was hoping I could talk to you before class started."

Her heart started to pound. A typical reaction around Adrien, so it was nothing new, but the tone of his voice suggested something she couldn't quite place. "Oh, is something wrong?"

There's something about him that's not right today. Was the nasty weather affecting everyone? "N-No, not really. It's… important though."

"O-Oh, okay, um… wanna go over to the picnic tables then?"

He nodded and, in a move that neither of them saw coming, he took her hand, leading her over to the shaded area underneath the trees where the picnic tables were.

Marinette had about a million different thoughts bouncing around in her head at the moment. About half of them were screaming about the fact that Adrien was holding her hand, and the other half were all asking what it was he had to talk to her about. Sure, Adrien would make casual conversation with her as friends did; talking about whatever crossed his mind at the time. But they had never had any sort of deep conversation, was this going to be their first?

When they reached the tables, he didn't let go of her hand. He breathed in like he was preparing for something and Marinette could only feel her heart beat harder.

"Marinette, I… I don't really know how to say this, but… I heard from… someone, that… that you…"

Oh no. This was not going where she thought this was going.

"T-That I..?" she nervously trailed, fearing the worst.

"…like me," he finished in a breathy voice, speaking nearly too fast for her to hear. "Is it true?"

If he weren't holding her hand, she might've passed out on the spot. She couldn't look him in the eye. Hell, she couldn't look at him period. Her face burned bright red with embarrassment as she contemplated what she should say next. Admitting it now would mean admitting to feelings she had always wanted to confess, but was never ready to do. Every day she found something else that she loved about him. Every day her love grew and changed in a way she never thought possible. Yet here he was, confronting her about it like they were little kids.

At the end of the day, they were still kids after all, weren't they? Had anything changed?

So, she did what any kid would do.

Grinning, she snickered and folded her arms over her chest. "Who told you that?"

Adrien seemed rather taken aback by the response, blinking owlishly at her. "Huh?"

Somehow, she found the strength to keep up her act, as if every word she spoke wasn't killing her. "I-If I liked you, I would've told you!" She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Adrien, we're friends. I'd never want to ruin that. It's cool, really."

She absolutely wanted to ruin it, wanted to destroy the line that kept them apart.

"R-Really?" he asked, those forest green eyes wide and a bit hopeful.

"Yup! Don't sweat it." She turned and gestured to the school. "We should probably get to class, no?"

He remained still, and she couldn't help but notice that he hadn't let go of her hand. "Marinette, are you sure you're alright? You're not lying to me, right?"

She stilled, keeping her back facing him. "…I would never lie to you."

To: Sabrina, 9:05 A.M.

OMG, you'll never guess what I just saw!

To: Chloe, 9:10 A.M.

?

To: Sabrina, 9:14 A.M.

Come sit w/ me at lunch, I'll tell you everything!