Quick Info~
Sorry about the long wait guys! I just got a new job and summer classes started, so it's been keeping me pretty busy! However, I am absolutely not ready to give up on this. Marinette and Chat are just too cute for that ;) So this prompt is one of the hardest, in my opinion. Since Chat often visits Marinette, I'm sure he has to know about her crush on Adrien. And because Chat is Adrien, that makes things more than a little bit complicated. (But Adrien is such a sweet cinnamon roll that I'm sure he doesn't mind knowing about Marinette's crush on him.) So be prepared for some fluff, some teasing, and a whole lot of "I know what you're thinking but I'm not going to pressure you into saying it" stuff. Thank you again to all of the wonderful people who have been keeping up with this story! I love you guys endlessly! Hope this chapter makes up for the mini-hiatus!
Drabble 7: Adrien Posters
It had been awhile since Marinette actively pursued Adrien. 'Actively pursuing' was putting it loosely of course, since the most flirting she had ever done with him was in a dream she had a week prior (in which she proceeded to stutter, trip over her own feet, and land face-first into the ice cream cone she was trying to share with him).
Part of her wondered if it had to do with Chat. Since the night that he had confessed his possible feelings to her and the rest of the world via Alya's blog, things surprisingly went back to normal. Marinette wasn't sure if she should be relieved that he was back to his goofy, flirtatious self or if she should be irritated that he seemed to get over her so quickly.
But regardless of her blossoming feelings for Paris' cheeky superhero, she still frequently checked the Agreste website. Partially because Gabriel Agreste was a fantastic designer from whom she drew inspiration, but also because old habits die hard and Adrien was still modeling for the company. Modeling, strangely enough, a brand new line of clothing that Marinette was surprised Gabriel decided to make.
She supposed she should have felt flattered. After all, seeing Adrien in red boxers with black dots was a direct nod to Ladybug's polka-dotted getup. But it wasn't seeing the Ladybug inspired outfit that made her stomach summersault inside of her. It was seeing Adrien dressed as Chat.
He was shirtless, with a black hoodie resting on top of his perfectly coiffed hair. Two black ears stuck up brazenly from the top of the hood, with bright green trimming trailing down and along the sides of the jacket. He was smiling a bit too innocently for Chat, but Marinette still felt her heart clench in her chest.
A few hours later, after begging her parents and making up some lame excuse about needing something from the craft store, her fantasy was complete. She printed out the photo of Adrien dressed as Chat and it was pasted on a poster board hung on the ceiling above her bed.
She laid on her bed for the rest of the day with her fingers spread out along her sheets and her eyes trained on the poster like she was forced to memorize every inch of it. Her chest felt tight, like oxygen was only entering her lungs in short, quick gasps. However, she merely assumed that her crush on Adrien was coming back so fast that it must've knocked the wind out of her.
That had to be it. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was dressed as Chat Noir. Nothing to do with Chat at all.
"Well, I have to admit, he looks purretty good if I do say so myself," Chat said enthusiastically, one hand tucked under his chin as he stared up at the poster with a lopsided smile.
Marinette gasped and jolted up from her dazed daydream. She glared at Chat, hoping that the more she frowned the less red her cheeks would appear.
"So I guess knocking is a new concept to you," she huffed.
"I did knock," Chat said, blinking innocently. "You just didn't answer, and I guess I know why now."
He gestured to the Adrien poster smugly.
"Oh this? No. This… It's just, well, umm, it's nothing. I mean, it's for a project. For fashion. I mean, umm, for school. Yeah. A project for school," Marinette stuttered, scrambling off of the bed and trying to avert his attention from Adrien's giant, dazzling grin staring down at them.
"So why are you here?" Marinette asked after what felt like the most awkward silence of her young life. (And if she was being honest, she's had her fair share of those.)
"Ladybug skipped out on patrol," Chat said, shrugging. "I had some time to kill so I figured I'd drop by and see my favorite Princess!"
"I thought I was your only Princess?" Marinette raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.
Chat laughed and reached out one hand to muss up her hair. "Of course you are, and that automatically makes you my favorite!"
Marinette could practically feel Tikki's 'I-told-you-so' expression burning a hole through her purse on the nightstand. She warned Marinette that patrol was tonight, and of course, Marinette promised Tikki that she would be back with more than enough time to spare. But if Chat couldn't even get her attention by knocking on her sky light, then how on earth was a little kwami supposed to snap her out of her daydream? Ladybug definitely owed Chat an apology this time.
"So you really like this guy, huh?" Chat asked, turning his attention back towards the poster.
"I thought I did," Marinette mumbled.
"I've been to your room enough times to know that this poster is a new addition. It even looks homemade. Why would you go through all of that trouble unless you really liked him?" Chat pressed.
Marinette wanted to tell him that she had been asking herself that same question for the past couple of hours. But admitting something like that to Chat was more or less admitting it to herself, too. She had had a crush on Adrien since they first met. Surely the sparks couldn't have died that quickly!
"Or is it because he's dressed like me?"
The question came off casually and goofily flirtatious, like almost everything that Chat Noir said, but the weight of his words made Marinette feel as though he had punched her in the gut. It was a heavy realization—the kind that made you feel as though whatever was dragging you helplessly through the torture of your own mind just sort of…stopped.
But before Marinette had time to bask in the weight lifted off of her chest, butterflies invaded every crevice of her stomach and a searing, crimson blush crept across every pore, every freckle, and every inch of her skin on her cheeks. She felt like fainting and slapping Chat and maybe even kissing him all at once.
"I think there's something I need to tell you," Marinette said, her eyes glued to the floor as she twiddled her thumbs clasped together nervously.
She could feel Chat Noir staring at her, the deep green of his irises urging her to just look up at him already. But the longer she stared at the ground, the longer she could feel the same insecurities she got around Adrien suffocating her.
"Mari," Chat said, tentatively placing one hand on her shoulder while the other gently tipped her chin towards him.
Two bluebell eyes blinked nervously. He felt his heart flutter and nearly lost his footing as he steadied himself on Marinette's shoulder. Whatever words he was planning on saying were already swept up in a tidal wave of nervous, bombarding thoughts. So he simply looked at her and tried to memorize the way she was looking at him.
Gently.
Apprehensively.
Almost like the way he looked at Ladybug and the way she looked at Adrien.
Marinette wasn't good with words, and Adrien—even as Chat Noir—was having a difficult time himself. So he swallowed whatever floundering, pun-related response he was thinking of, and decided instead to let his actions speak louder than his words.
One tiny, hesitant kiss on the cheek later and the pair were both stunned into silence. Marinette's hand flung up to her face, fingertips gently brushing the soft skin there. Even Chat found himself tracing his lower lip, his eyes dancing between hers.
"I hope your project for school goes well," he said, knowingly winking at her.
He knew. For all intents and purposes, he knew about her crush.
"I hope so, too," she whispered.
And she knew that he was well aware of what she wanted to say.
