hook, line, and sinker
iii.
His desire to know Ladybug's true identity is actually a relatively recent development.
Adrien falls for her, slowly but surely, and he doesn't realized he loves her until it hits him one day that he falls asleep thinking of her eyes, to dreams of her laughter and the feel of her hands in his, and wakes up to her smile.
And so begins the intense urge to know everything about her.
His efforts are blocked every time, by none other than Ladybug herself, and the hurt and insecurity that fills him is almost too much to mask. He loves her so much and he trusts her more than anyone in the world—he would tell her his deepest, darkest secrets if she asked—and he thought she trusted him just the same.
His blatant flirtations belie the depth of his feelings, and maybe it's his own fault for not making his sincerity clear, right from the beginning.
But he hasn't done anything to warrant this awkward behavior from her. He racks his brain, even tries apologizing for, well, anything, but Ladybug just snaps at him and then apologizes profusely. He's so confused and his heart hurts enough already—the distraught look on Marinette's face when she had (somehow) figured out that he's Chat Noir is stuck in his mind, second only to the pitying looks he receives from her parents only minutes later when they gently tell him she doesn't want to see him—that he just falls silent and helps her defeat the akuma as speedily as possible. He doesn't stay to talk to her, doesn't even offer their customary fist-bump, deciding to just go home and sleep and forget about life for a while.
Joke's on him: his dreams that night are Marinette and Ladybug both staring down at him in disappointment, and he wakes up feeling more soul-bruised than he ever thought possible.
© Copyright 2016 by The Siege