Adrien couldn't say he felt completely guilty over what happened. He himself had wanted to know about Ladybug's real identity for the last year or so. Of course, he respected her wishes and the general superhero guidelines about keeping one's identity secret for the sake of friends and families safety, so he wouldn't push it by asking about her life too much. However, Ladybug finding out who he really was fine; great if it even gave him the slightest chance to get know her better and vice versa. But the one thing he felt truly awful about was the look on Ladybug's face when she saw him.
After the Crème brusader had returned to being an ordinary pastry chief, Chat Noir was unable to run off in time and de-transformed in front of Ladybug (luckily, no one else was around and the pastry chief had been too baked to pay attention to them.) Ladybug's usual confident face had gone slack, her eyes wide and for once she didn't know what to say. She must have been shocked to find out who he was. She almost looked scared. Before they could even speak to each other however, she had to run away before her own Miraculous timed out. He was disappointed at her response, but understood. While it may seem unfair that he didn't find out her identity and she found out his, it was still an agreement both of them should respect as long as they were able to.
After finding the closest market that had Camembert, Adrien transformed back to Chat Noir and headed home. He snuck into his bedroom window without being noticed by the security cameras. After hoping onto the floor and then de-transforming, he finally spoke about what happened with Plagg.
"So she found out, huh?" asked Plagg, sounding a little curt.
"Yeah," Adrien replied, sighing heavily.
Plagg floated over to Adrien's bed and sat himself down on the covers. "You don't seem all that happy about it."
Adrien joined Plagg, sitting on the bed, then lying down on his back, sinking into the expensive comfy mattress. It was helping him out a little bit.
"I mean, I wanted to know who she was, so it shouldn't be such a big deal that she knows who I am, but…"
"But?"
The distress on Ladybug's face came back to him and hit him in the face hard enough to make him wince at himself. How horrible was he to get her to look like that?
"I didn't want it to happen like this I guess. I mean did you see her face? It's like she was terrified of me."
"It must've been shocking to find out your partner is someone famous," said Plagg, shrugging like the answer was obvious.
Adrien rolled his eyes, though Plagg didn't see him do it. "I don't think that was the main reason at all, Plagg."
Or maybe it was? Maybe Ladybug felt she should've treated him differently this entire time because of his celebrity status, which would've bothered him a lot, since he got enough "special treatment" daily.
Or, the more likely answer, maybe she didn't like Adrien Agreste at all. What if she thought of him poorly? Why else would she look like that when his powers wore off? While a lot of people admired him and those in his profession, some people had a lot of criticism towards the fashion industry and those involved in it. What if she was disgusted to be associated with someone who was likely to be vain, shallow or only interested material possessions? Ladybug certainly wasn't the type who liked people like that, remembering her interactions with Chloe (while deep, deep, deep down, she had her moments, Chloe could often rub people the wrong way.)
As much as he could understand that viewpoint and felt it sometimes himself, it hurt a lot to know Ladybug may dislike who he was under the mask because of his job, especially when it wasn't even what he wanted to do his entire life.
"Regardless of the reason, what's done is done. All now that remains is what to do about it," Plagg said, crossing his tiny arms.
"Yeah. I should probably call and talk with her about it."
Adrien got up from his bed, transformed into Chat Noir and turned on the communicator in his staff. "Hey, Ladybug, you there?"
She didn't respond, probably since she was unlikely to be transformed at the moment. After a few more minutes, Ladybug picked up and appeared on his small screen. She was outside somewhere and her face looked a little red, almost matching her mask. "Ye-yeah, I'm here…Chat."
Something was off about her voice, the way she spoke and she hesitated on saying his name. It must've been the awkwardness of the situation and what to call him now. "Um, can we meet up? We should talk about…you know."
"Yeah!" Ladybug said, a little louder than she probably intended. "How about tonight at the Eiffel Tower? Around ten?"
"That sounds good."
It would give both of them time to think about how to approach this, although he would be feeling a bit antsy in the mean time. "I'll see you then," he said, smiling softly, trying to ease the awkwardness.
"Uh, y-yeah," she replied, her face flinching slightly. "See you then."
The screen blinked and went dark and Adrien groaned at himself. It was such a small thing and attempt to make things better, but even him smiling was enough to bother her. Did she really dislike him that much? The next couple of hours were going to be less of a time to think about what to say and more of a torture session.
AN: So I am going to continue this after all. I have about four chapters in mind altogether, so it will be short. This chapter is shorter and was harder to write compared to the first. I hope the next two turn out better.
