Disclaimer: I am not Thomas Astruc.
Adrien was in trouble.
He tried his hardest to avoid this situation. Yet, here he was. Unable to deny his crush on Marinette. The problem wasn't having a crush on his blue-eyed friend. It was the fact that he was also in love with Ladybug. Even though he wasn't with either one of them, he still felt like a cheater. How could his affections belong to two different people?
Except they weren't all that different, were they?
The more he got to know Marinette, the more he realized she shared many traits with Ladybug. Over time he noticed her kindness, her resourcefulness, her fury at injustice, and her creativity. The girl was ridiculously talented. As Chat Noir, he also got to see her compassion and see her admit her mistakes and try to fix them. Better yet, he even got to see her silly her side. At times, things felt the way they did whenever he flirted or simply goofed around with Ladybug. Well, without the need to impress Marinette. Or at least they did at first. All in all, as both Adrien and Chat Noir, he had the chance to see the real Marinette.
In the beginning, he had just brushed off his affections as fondness for a really good friend. But he started doubting that when he caught himself thinking about Marinette at random times, which were then followed by moments of guilt and confusion. Then one day, unbeknownst to his friend, he heard Marinette laugh whole heartedly at something Alix said. And he couldn't help but wish he could make her laugh that hard someday. That was when he knew he was crushing on her. Hard.
It has been a few days since his realization, and he didn't know what to do. Should he even do anything? What about Ladybug? And who would he even go to for advice? No one would take his love for Ladybug seriously. She is a superhero, loved by all of Paris. She wouldn't personally know Adrien Agreste, and he couldn't tell anyone he is Chat Noir. And Plagg would be of no use and probably go on about camembert.
"Dude! You must really have a thing for blue-eyed girls with two pig-tails." Nino interrupted his thoughts.
"Wait. What?" Adrien looked around. Classes had ended for the day. Everyone else had already left the classroom, except for Nino and himself. "What do you mean?"
"Come on! Don't think I wouldn't notice the way you look at Marinette, dude."
"I look at her normally, man. She's just a friend." Somehow that doesn't sound right anymore. Even he himself could tell it was off.
"Right. So you weren't doodling her in class? I mean your doodles suck, but they're still pretty obvious," he said.
Adrien said nothing. Did Marinette see? She sat behind him after all.
"And don't think I don't see those Ladybug doodles, either. I sit beside you, dude!" Nino continued. He looked at his blond friend.
"I-I just" I didn't know what to say.
"It's OK, dude. We all have a type. Yours just happens to be blue-eyed, pig-tailed girls with blue hair. Marinette's cool. Even I used to- Let's not talk about that. But seriously, dude."
"Nino- I"
"And Ladybug, eh? I never knew. Now that I think about it…they both do look a lot alike. If Marinette wasn't so clumsy-"
"Hey! Ladybug's got magic. Doesn't matter if she is actually clumsy or not-" Oh wait! Could it be? No way. But he's never actually seen both Marinette and Ladybug at the same time. How could he have been so blind? He shouldn't just jump to conclusion. He didn't know anything for sure. He had to test it out.
"You're right Nino! Could you watch my stuff for a bit? I'll be right back!"
He ran out of the classroom. His peers were around, doing their own thing. Marinette was alone at her locker. Her back was facing him when he approached her.
"Don't turn around, My Lady," He whispered.
Marinette gasped. And Adrien's heart skipped a beat when he heard her response.
"I-Is that you, Kitty?"
~~ Fin~~
A/N: Sorry guys. This was a quick one, and I didn't have much time to edit it. More like I didn't really edit it. I like to try to make the characters' speech and thoughts somewhat resemble what's canon. Unfortunately, watching this show in 3 different languages- but predominantly in French- kind of makes it difficult to maintain the speech patterns. Plus, I just really felt like publishing something for this fandom. Even if it isn't the greatest quality out there.