A.N: -Portrait of the artist ignoring the fact that puns in English do not make any sense at all in other languages and writing an entire story about French characters making terrible jokes in English.-
It's called artistic license or whatever leave me alone.
To be honest, he hadn't actually intended to find out. He'd just had a very important crime-fighting stratagem to share with Ladybug before they parted ways for the evening. His intentions were pure. If the very important crime-fighting conversation would also include the string of ladybug puns he'd just thought of then those were just a bonus. It was important that he stay true to himself.
Becoming Chat Noir almost three years ago had been such a relief in so many ways. Not the least of which being that he finally had a reason to tell people all the terrible jokes he was generally thinking up anyways. Nathalie had never been nearly as delighted by his attempts at humor as the grateful citizens Paris immediately after being rescued.
So that night he'd turned back to trail after the path Ladybug had followed after taking her leave, intent on working in something about aphids to asking her a clarifying question about the schedule for that weekend's patrols.
He leaped across several rooftops and scaled a chimney to survey the area, trying to spot her. He was about to propel himself to the next roof when he noticed her reeling in her yoyo in the alley below him. He had just opened his mouth to call out to her when the red light began to engulf her feet.
He was so caught off-guard it didn't occur to him to look away and respect her privacy until the transformation had overtaken all but her face. He still tried, turning his head away at the last possible moment. But not even Chat's catlike reflexes were quick enough to hide her outfit. The outfit that looked practically the same as every other outfit Marinette wore to school.
Marinette.
Marinette who was in his class. Marinette who was his friend. Marinette who consistently kicked his ass during their monthly gaming nights.
Marinette who was standing below him when he turned back to stare down at her, looking around cautiously as a small red blur that had to be a kwami landed in her cupped palms.
Adrien nearly fell off the roof.
He was in complete shock, gaping after her as she walked out onto the empty street. He continued staring as she disappeared around the corner, gaze focused blankly on the sidewalk.
After what could have been hours he pulled himself together. He was in a daze as he made his way home. It was miraculous (ha!) that he didn't manage to accidentally set off the alarm system as he crept in through an upstairs window. By the time he got to his room and took the opportunity to collapse on his bed as he released the transformation, he was still reeling.
"So you finally figured it out then?" Plagg asked, already heading for the mini-fridge stocked solely with cheese Adrien kept under his desk.
Adrien sat up slowly. "You knew?"
The kwami's next words were garbled, as he spoke through a mouthful of cheese. "Of course I did. I am an ancient mystical being with thousands of years of experience with miraculous users." He swallowed loudly, crumpling up a wrapper. "Also she's the only other member of your class that has never been victim to an akuma."
Adrien paused. "I hadn't thought of that."
Plagg dropped the wrapper into the trashcan before flying up to hover above Adrien's face. The kwami peered down at him. "Are you going to have a breakdown over this?"
Adrien scowled. "I'm not freaking out Plagg."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure. I just," he sat up, "don't know what to do about this."
Plagg landed on his pillow and stretched. Catlike. "You should probably tell her."
Adrien blanched. "I can't just tell her! She wanted our identities to stay secret. What if she's upset?"
Plagg yawned, curling up. "Well it's too late for that now. The cat's already out of the bag."
Adrien groaned, dropping his head into his hands.
Then it occurred to him.
He lifted his head. "But the cat's not out of the bag though," he said, a smile starting to stretch across his face. "I know who she is, but she doesn't know who I am. If she can figure it out on her own, this will all be fine!"
Plagg muttered something incoherent, already falling asleep.
This would work. All Adrien had to do was drop some hints around her. Make a few key comments, incorporate some inconspicuous phrasing. Act a bit more chat-like. And then, and then, he would finally be able to spend time with Ladybug without the masks between them.
Piece of cake.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They were in the middle of a lecture when the opportunity presented itself.
Since leaving collège Marinette no longer sat directly behind him in every class. So while ignoring the professeur's lecture on the geography of Southeast Asia, he was able to sneak looks at her as she sat to his left.
Ladybug was sitting next to him. Ladybug was sitting next to him and staring down at her notebook. Ladybug was sitting next to him while scratching her eyebrow.
He took a deep breath and stared resolutely at the map he was supposed to be annotating. He had to keep calm. He was Adrien Agreste, part-time superhero and part-time model. He could handle this. He could keep it together.
Their instructor set the class on a short break while he struggled to open a new powerpoint on his laptop and Adrien seized his moment.
"Marinette!" He said, slightly too loudly.
The students in the row behind them all immediately stopped talking and looked at him. Alya, on the other side of Marinette, leaned forward to stare at him curiously. Marinette turned to him, a light blush staining her cheeks. "Yes?"
"Umm…" he fumbled. Ladybug! yelled his internal monologue.
"Adrien, are you okay?" Marinette asked, beginning to sound concerned.
He reached wildly behind him, grabbed Nino's shirt, and hauled him forward. "Nino and I were planning to go to an arcade this evening. You should come." He cringed. "Um, you and Alya, that is, are welcome to join us. If you'd like." He paused, took a deep breath, and took the plunge.
"What I mean is, we would be paw-sitively delighted if you would join us."
Nailed it.
She stared at him for a couple moments, mouth open slightly. Alya behind her had lit up like a gleeful sunburst. She was looking pointedly at Nino, nodding her head towards Adrien and mouthing 'are you seeing this?' Adrien ignored her, trying not to panic, and focused on Marinette.
"Umm," Marinette squeaked and flushed bright red. She hadn't turned quite that shade of red near him since the first year they'd known each other, back when she always seemed to be nervous and uncomfortable around him. "I guess?"
Adrien released a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He grinned, trying to relax into it and make it as much like Chat as possible. He decided to try for a couple more, and drew his next words out, emphasizing them. "Purr-fect. I'm looking fur-ward to it."
Her blush deepened impossibly and she looked down at her desk. "Um, great."
He ignored the rows of staring students behind them and turned back to face the board.
"What just happened?" Nino hissed into his ear.
"Nothing, don't worry about it. We're just…going to hang out."
He could feel Nino staring at him, as well as the entire rest of their class, but he refused to look away from theprofesseur who had just started the lecture again.
"Okay buddy," Nino said. "But next time you decide to lose it in the middle of class, maybe warn me first?"
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
She hadn't gotten it yet. He'd been so sure that his first attempt would have done the trick. But she didn't look at him with any new sort of recognition when he and Nino joined her and Alya for the short walk to the arcade down the street.
That was fine though. He'd just have to step up his game. He was a superhero, and he could do this.
He left the desk where he'd gone to buy a round of sodas for the group and looked around the crowded room for his friends. He spotted two familiar pigtails next to one of the two player games and made a beeline for her, dodging around a loud group of younger kids.
"Hey Marinette. How are you feline tonight?" he asked, sidling up to where Marinette was loading coins into the Mecha Strike: Ultimatum machine.
She turned to him, smiling softly, and tucked a strand of her bangs behind her ear. "Well, I'm doing alright." Her smile deepened into something playful and sharp as she took the cup he was holding out for her, and she looked so much like Ladybug that he almost dropped the drink. How did it take so long for him to see it? "But I'll be doing much better after I trounce you in a match or two."
Adrien could have swooned on the spot.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They'd been at the arcade for three hours. Nino and Alya had vanished completely two hours into the endeavor swearing that they simply couldn't play one more round of DDR and needed to rest but Adrien figured they'd probably found a dark corner somewhere to make out in. Not that he minded being left alone with Marinette.
"I'll definitely win next time," he said as he lost the third round in a row.
"Keep telling yourself that," Marinette smirked at him, leaning against the console.
He tried to muster up some feigned annoyance, but he was still kind of giddy that he was here at all. With Marinette. With Ladybug. His grin was instead hopelessly fond.
"Well, I don't know about you princess, but I've worked up quite the appetite after losing repeatedly. Could I purr-suade you to join me for some dessert?" He put on his most winning model-smile.
For once though, she didn't immediately melt onto the floor. Instead she tapped him lightly on the shoulder as she walked past, and he was positive her hand lingered just a beat too long. He shivered. She threw back over her shoulder, "Only if you're paying."
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Adrien pushed open the door of the frozen yogurt shop, allowing Marinette to walk out in front of him.
"So how do you feel about the quiz in chemistry tomorrow?" he asked as they walked. "I think it might end up a bit of a cat-astrophe for me."
Marinette patted his arm in sympathy and he struggled to make his sudden inhale less audible. "Of course not," she said, looking up at him so earnestly he kind of wanted to die. "You're such a great student, I'm sure you'll do fine!"
He tried to think of something to say, but couldn't and just stared down at her. She met his eyes solidly. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears. The moment lengthened until she blushed and looked away.
He shook himself and rubbed at the back of his head. He had to try harder. She had to figure this out.
"Hey wanna hear a joke?"
She finished her last bite of froyo, licking the spoon far too thoroughly for his comfort. "Okay. But it has to be a good one."
"What do you call a pile of cats?"
She looked at him again, quirking an eyebrow. "I don't know, what do you call a pile of cats?"
He grinned at her, again trying to channel as much Chat as was possible without wearing head-to-toe leather. "Ameowtain."
"Hmm, is that so?" She tapped her chin, looking thoughtful. "I've heard better." She smiled at him and turned away to throw her bowl in a nearby trashcan.
Adrien manfully refrained from slamming his head into a lamppost.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
During lunch the next day he ignored Nino's attempts to grill him about his "hot date" and collapsed onto a bench in the courtyard.
He'd tried everything. It was official. He was a failure. He'd slipped as many cat conversations into their conversation as he could before walking her to her house last night. And this morning he'd managed two more when she stopped him at his locker to wish him luck on the chemistry quiz. And it was all for nothing.
Marinette would never know that boring Adrien Agreste was really her devilishly handsome crime-fighting partner. They'd never have a romantic interlude on the rooftops of Paris. He was doomed.
"Adrien? Are you alright?" came a soft voice intruding on his moping. It was her, of course.
He sprang upright on the bench, trying and failing to look casual. "Oh, you know," he said, striving to be cool, "justlion around."
"Oh I'm sorry," she said, backing up a step. "I can leave if you'd rather be left alone."
"No, no it's fine," he said, standing up quickly and running a jerky hand through his hair. "Fur real, I was just kittenaround," he said, trying one more time.
"Okay," she said, not reacting at all to the attempt, just as she hadn't for any others. Instead she smiled sweetly at him, and he kind of wanted to rip his hair out of his skull.
He dropped back onto the bench, patting the space beside him for her to join him. She sat slowly beside him, tucking her feet together, holding her purse on her lap.
"Look Marinette, there's something I think I need to talk to you about," he said. He couldn't look at her as he said it, so he focused on the ground between his knees instead.
He felt her hand stroke lightly against his arm and he struggled not to shiver under the touch. "Of course, feel free to talk to me about anything," she said.
He wished it were that easy. "I really, really, don't know how to say this. It's nothing bad, or at least I don't think it is. But we're friends, or at least I think we're friends, so this shouldn't be an issue, I think," he rambled.
"Adrien," she said. "You're rambling."
He swiped a hand across his face. "Yeah. You're right." He turned to face her.
"Marinette."
She turned to mirror his position. She was trying to keep her expression serious, but the corner of her mouth was ticked up. "Adrien."
He could do this. "Look, I am…" he trailed off.
"You are…?" she prompted, starting to grin.
He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "Why is this so hard?" he asked his shoes.
She patted him gently on the shoulder. "There, there mon chaton, you can do it."
He froze. "What?" he asked, not looking up.
She giggled in response. "Honestly minou, you're so oblivious." He felt her hand gently grasp his cheek and turn his face to meet her gaze. The grin she graced him with was 100% Ladybug. "I figured it out last month."
He sputtered. "What?!"
She tapped his nose gently. "When you came over for our game night. You asked for a plate of cheese but you didn't eat any of it. You kept slipping it into your shirt when you thought I wasn't looking." She shrugged. "It wasn't hard to piece together after that."
He gaped at her. "But…why didn't you say anything?"
"Well," she said, looking far too smug. "Where would be the fun in that?"
He tried to work up some annoyance but all he could focus on was the freckles dusting her nose, and how she was close enough he could almost feel her breath on his cheek, and how suddenly she was getting even closer.
"Don't take it purr-sonally," she murmured into his ear. He felt soft lips against his cheek and suddenly felt lightheaded.
She was blushing again as she drew back. He grabbed her wrist before she could get too far away. He stared at her, again at a loss for words.
"What's the matter?" she asked, sliding her hand into his and pulling him to his feet. "Cat got your tongue?"
A/N: I hate puns why did I write this?
This is the first thing I've written for fun in over a year, so I'd appreciate feedback if you've got the time to drop a comment.
Come hang out with me on tumblr - clearancecreedwatersurvival.