It was going to be a good day, Marinette could tell.
"You're looking very chipper today, Marinette." Tikki teased as she walked to school.
"I'm feeling very chipper today, Tikki."
"Could it be because you have rounds tonight with Chat Noir?" Tikki giggled, and Marinette swatted at her playfully.
"Very funny, Tikki." But even as she said it, she knew deep down that the promise of seeing Chat later that night was a big part of the reason she was in such a great mood. Not that she was ready to admit it to anyone, even her kwami.
"Wow, Marinette, I'm loving this new look." Alya whistled.
"It's not that new." She brushed her hands down her skirt.
"Uh girl, don't lie. I saw this outfit as a sketch just last week. It's totally new!"
"What can I say, I was just inspired I guess." Marinette shrugged, hoping Alya would not pick up on the more subtle aspects of her inspiration that she'd thrown in.
"Hmm, black skater boots, a green sweater, and a hair bow that looks a lot like a pair of familiar ears? Inspired by Chat Noir!" Alya crowed, loud enough to attract the attention of some of their classmates who had already filed into the room.
"Marinette has a crush on Chat Noir?" Kim shouted. Marinette covered her eyes, cursing Alya.
"No, I do not-"
"As if she would even have a chance," Chloe threw in.
"More of a chance than you." She muttered under her breathe.
"Please Chloe, superheroes always date nice girls." Alya defended. "Plus, how many times has Chat Noir needed Marinette's help fighting an akuma? She's totally the Mary Jane to his Spiderman!"
"Who's Mary Jane?" Adrien asked, setting his bag down and giving the group a small smile.
"Marinette." Alya said smugly and crossed her arms over her chest.
"And Spiderman?" He pressed, looking at Marinette. Her crush may have been on it's way out, but when he looked at her like that, hopeful and with those bright green eyes, she felt like that girl with a crippling crush again.
"Chat Noir!" Rose shouted from the back of the room. "How romantic!"
"Chat Noir," he deadpanned. His fists clenched.
"Can we please just drop this? I'm not Mary Jane, and Chat Noir is way cooler than Spiderman." Marinette pleaded. The class cooed and Adrien turned around, not saying another word.
"So Chat Noir, huh?" Alya asked, quietly this time, as to not insight another riot in the classroom. She elbowed Marinette playfully and Marinette shoved her back.
"He's sweet," Marinette answered, but didn't get anything else out, because just as Madame was about to begin the lesson when Adrien stood and stomped from the room. The entire class watched him leave in silence.
"Marinette, would you please bring Adrien back?" She asked. Marinette nodded and left the room, trying to decide the most likely spot for Adrien to have gone.
She walked down the hall, listening for any sign of him, wondering why he'd left. Maybe he was sick and had gone to the bathroom? She decided to wait outside the men's room and see if he came out of it soon.
"Yes, Hawkmoth."
She cocked her head, and listened, hoping it had only been a figment of her imagination. She crept towards the closed door where she'd heard the voice. Through the small window she saw Chat, his back to her.
"Chat Noir, what are you doing here?" She asked as she entered the room. He turned, and she knew it wasn't Chat.
"Cataclysm!"
"So why'd you do it?" She asked. He shrugged. "I mean I know that I shouldn't be mad at you. It was Hawkmoth that did this to you, that made you so angry, but why me? What did I do to make you so angry?" She gripped the edge of her seat, her knuckles turning white.
"I don't know. I just-" he took a deep breathe. "I have been in love with Ladybug, with you, from day one. But she – you – didn't return my feelings, not like I wanted you to anyway. But you Marinette did. You liked me as Chat Noir, but never as Adrien.
"And that's it I guess. Adrien has never been good enough, Chat has never been good enough. I've never been good enough." He looked down at his hands –his ring. He twirled it around his finger and waited for Marinette to say something – anything.
"When you first came to school, I hated you." Marinette began. "I thought that you were just going to be a male Chloe. But then you gave me your umbrella and I was lost. I spent years pining after you."
"What? No, you never talked to me." Adrien looked at her, and she blushed slightly at finally admitting her crush to him.
"I literally couldn't form a coherent sentence around you." She laughs. He chuckles too. "I spent years like that, with you never seeing me as more than a friend. It was discouraging. So when Chat started paying attention to me, and flirting with me – as me and as Ladybug – It wore me down, and I started to develop feelings."
"So you're telling me," Adrien folded his hands under his chin. "That we have spent years being in love with each other's various identities?"
"Yeah, I suppose so," Marinette began to giggle, and so did Adrien, and soon the pair were rolling on the floor, tears streaming down their faces from laughter.
"We're idiots," Adrien said, wiping away tears. Marinette nodded, pulling a handkerchief from her purse and wiping her face with it. They sat in comfortable silence for several moments.
"Adrien," She began. "When you were akumatized, you said something."
"I'm sure that I said a lot of things, Marinette." He shot back, ever the joker. She shot him a look that told him to be serious and his face grew somber.
"You said that you were made for evil. Like father like son. What did you mean by that?" She looked at him, and his face had gone pale.
"N-nothing. Just something the akuma made me say."
"Adrien," Marinette prodded, and put her hand on his arm. He flinched.
"It's nothing Marinette, alright?" He shouted. She withdrew her hand and he was sorry for it. "Marinette, I,"
"Come, children, we must speak." Master Fu said, walking back through the door, not waiting for them to follow.