Chapter 7: The Guise

Marinette sprung back like a match against sandpaper.

Had Adrien just tried to kiss her? Her mind could barely compute the thought as it rewinded over and over in her mind.

It took a few moments before either of them could regain their composure. Breaking the silence that had ensued, Adrien cleared his throat rather harshly.

"We should probably get back to class now. It's getting late." He pointed out.

Marinette could only bobble her head in reply.

Taking it as a nod, Adrien motioned for her to follow him. When she didn't respond, still basking in her dazed reverie, he gently grasped her hand and tugged her along the hallway until they reached their teacher's room.

"U-umm Marinette can you let go of my hand? might get the wrong idea if we interrupt class with our hands intertwined. Heh, heh…" He drawled sheepishly. In all honesty, he didn't want to loosen his grip. It felt as though Mari's hand melded to his perfectly.

"Y-yeah, sure…" She responded, just as sheepishly.

Inhaling deeply, the two entered the room just to be met with a painfully shrill bark.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, you best be seated in the next five seconds before I send you to the office for excessive tardiness!" The teacher chastised, pointing an accusing finger at them.

They both had stellar reputations for horrid punctuality.

"Yes ma'am!" They both answered as politely as possible.

Settling down, she instructed the class to turn to the assigned chapters of the previous night's homework. As they droned on, it didn't take long until their episode was long forgotten.

Taking his chances, Adrien motioned to Marinette. Gaining her undivided attention, he pointed at one of the models of a molecule, in which resembled a cookie, and gestured as if he were 'tipping his hat to the chef.'

Fully aware of the misfortune his alter-ego is prone to, he should've known better.

As Marinette giggled at the princely motion stalked toward their seats with a predatory snarl.

"I've had enough of your insubordination! Not only do you interrupt class by showing up late, but you crack jokes during the middle of my lesson." She yelled.

"It's my fault." Adrien piped up. "I was just trying to make Marinette laugh. I'm sorry for disturbing your lesson."

Her eyes softened upon hearing the boy's confession. The young model had a natural charisma that could break the harshest of exteriors.

"Well, one joke seems harmless enough. I won't ring up your parents, but the both of you most report to cleaning duties after school. The chalkboard needs a thorough scrubbing." She announced with a note of finality.

Nodding respectfully, the lesson resumed without any other interruption.


The school day runs rather quickly when physics ends. Adrien and Marinette continue to spend time together as he carries her supplies, eats lunch with her and maintains a light banter of endless puns. Throughout the day, Alya and Nino pulled their best friends aside to ask them whether they had "sealed the deal" just to earn a blush and a stammer from the both of them. Though the couple hadn't gotten what they were looking for, they knew it was just a matter of time.

Before they knew it, dismissal had arrived.

Heading back to 's room, Adrien and Marinette hastily made their way to the board and began clapping erasers. They both wanted to finish as soon as possible. If their parents figured out why they were staying at school after hours they would not be pleased.

"So… how do you think you did on the chemistry quiz?" Adrien asked in an attempt to make small talk

"I-It wasn't too bad. I had a little trouble remembering some of the polyatomic ions. Your little charade didn't help matters either."

In addition to physics class, Adrien hadn't exactly been the teacher's pet in chemistry either. After handing in his quiz, he had smirked at Marinette and mouthed a challenging "beat that" at her. Though the teacher hadn't noticed, it broke the superheroine's concentration. It took every ounce of attentiveness she could muster to finish the questions on time.

"Sorry about that Mari. I guess I'm just a little competitive." He claimed, yet again abashed.

Marinette grimaced inwardly as this remark reminded her of Chat Noir. Though she hadn't seen the mangy alley cat in weeks and had every right to be cross with him, she found herself feeling incredibly guilty.

Had her moment with Adrien, betrayed her bond with Chat Noir?

Sure, she had told him countless times that the two could never share a relationship of such intimacy (or risk their identities and all of Paris,) but she knew the boy still had feelings for her.

As she pondered this, Adrien's train of thought had drifted toward the same tracks. His gut turned as he thought of his lady. He had treated her so poorly this past week with his out-of-the-blue disappearing act. With every fiber in his being, he hoped that she wasn't angry at him.

His flirtations with Marinette surely wouldn't alleviate the situation either, for they had come so close to kissing. It was as though he could still feel her close proximity - the warmth and radiance it gave.

Trying to snap out of his daze, he couldn't help but think he was betraying Ladybug. He'd never miss the opportunity to tell her he cared for her through flirty remarks and sincere gestures, but if she learned of the endeavors his civilian life entailed she might as well leave him out to rot.

But that couldn't keep him from liking Marinette.

And that wouldn't keep Marinette from liking Adrien.

"So Marinette about the locker bay…" Adrien started.

"Oh, that." Marinette responded rather quickly. "That was really nice…. I mean really nice of you to stand up for me. Alya has stood on my behalf a few times, but no one's ever said something like that about me before." Marinette pointed at herself with a disheartened chuckle. "Sometimes I feel like Chloe is right - that I'm just an accident waiting to happen. But I can't let myself feel sad or mad about it since it would make me a prime target for Hawk Moth's akumas. If I were to fall victim to one of his schemes than that would make Chloe right. I'd be a train wreck.…" The words on the tip of Marinette's tongue faltered. Had she divulged too much to the model? Panic began to swell in her chest. What if she had just indirectly revealed her secret identity?

Adrien processed her explanation carefully. As one of the guardians of Paris, he was very accustomed with Hawk Moth's ways of akumitazation, but he'd assumed the citizens of Paris knew very little, if anything, about the mechanics of the foul insects. Maybe Alya had posted something about it on the Lady Blog? Though it wasn't likely, he didn't have much else to go off of. Unless, Marinette had lasting ties with Ladybug that stretched beyond the mission she'd assigned to his alter ego when the bluenette had been the object of the Evillustrator affection.

Despite Marinette's insecure outlook of herself, Adrien could irrefutably say that she is in no way a product of misfortune.

"Marinette, you are nothing short of incredible. It may be hard for you to see that, but I have an eye for beauty - both on the inside and out." He whispered, gently grasping her hands.

"Y-you too." Marinette stuttered, lost in his eyes.

He laughed. "My reputation precedes me."

"Does it ever frustrate you when someone wants to get close because of your reputation?" She asked quite suddenly. The question had always nagged at her thoughts, for it was a problem she commonly encountered as Ladybug.

He nodded.

"How do you deal with it?" She pressed on.

"I guess I just have to bear the people I love in mind. When I think about my friends I can forget about the others." His thoughts drifted to Ladybug - his closest friend.

Before Marinette could respond, the door suddenly caved in. With it, revealed an akumatized version of their teacher.

Remaining hand-in-hand, the two knew that their guises were the only heroes that could save them now.


A/N: I'm so sorry it took this long to update! I feel like my updates are about as untimely as the anime's showings… Okay, maybe not that bad. I promise that the next chapter will contain some heavy duty action and may or may not include a reveal. Only time will tell. Thank you to everyone that's hung in there. Love you.

Also, it has been brought to my attention that there were a good bit of missing words in this chapter. As I scrolled through it, I realized that the edits I made to the document hadn't all saved. For some reason, whenever I typed their teacher's name in it wouldn't appear in the saved version. Anywho, I replaced these empty spaces with "their teacher." I know it's odd, but that's why I only referred to her this way instead of using her name. Sorry about that.