Chapter Eight
"Adrien asked you on a date?" Marinette had the phone sitting on a desk in the corner of her room. She had her sketchbook open, drawing out designs, or attempted to, constantly distracted by the small doodle hearts she placed in the pages corners, unable to concentrate on the dress she was designing. Her laptop was open on the corner of her desk, YouTube open, watching a video series on unsolved mysteries, letting her mind wander. She had paused the video when Alya called her, assaulting Marinette with the question the moment she picked up the phone.
"Yes?" she wasn't sure how she was supposed to answer. Alya didn't hear about the date the moment she was asked out so she was going to be in trouble. She winced, knowing that Alya heard this information from Nino, who heard it from Adrien. Alya was third in line to hear the scoop in her best friend's love life, which was something the girl would not stand for.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Alya was screaming excitedly into her speaker, causing Marinette to inch away from the desk.
"Because I knew you would react like this?" It wasn't a total lie. She was still in a daze. Surely she was dreaming. There was no way that after years of crushing on him he suddenly returned her feelings. Something between them shifted this afternoon. She could feel it when she knocked on his door, seeing him answer with a panicked expression, nervous like she always got around him and when she turned to go he asked her to stay. That had to have been when the shift happened, when she chose to stay. She was comfortable enough with him to fall asleep on his shoulder, and from the looks of his disheveled hair and the title screen of the movie looping when she woke up, he was comfortable enough to fall asleep on her as well.
"You should have told me! I had to find out from Nino. Adrien is freaking out. He has no idea what he should do for you. It's kind of adorable really." Marinette opened her mouth to interject, saying that he didn't need to go to a lot of effort just for her, but she was interrupted by her friend. "I already told him he doesn't need to make any over the top grand gestures, like rent out the Louvre for an evening."
"He didn't!" Marinette picked up her phone from it's spot from the desk and took it off speaker, placing it against her ear. "Tell me he did not suggest renting out the Louvre!"
"Oh," she could practically see Alya's exasperated expression, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose with her middle finger, "he did. And the apartment in the Eiffel Tower. I had Nino talk him down from both of those ideas. I then told Nino to tell him that he shouldn't spend more than a hundred euros on this date. It's a first date. He doesn't want to overwhelm you."
"Thank you, Alya. I appreciate it." Internally she shuddered. If these were the measures that he went to for a first date she hated to imagine what he would try to do for future ones.
"So, give me details! How did he ask you? Was there a bouquet of roses involved? A box of chocolate? I know Adrien is a real romantic."
Marinette blushed, not offended in the least that neither of those things happened. "Actually, we were watching a movie and fell asleep. We woke up and Gabriel brought Romeo home. We put him to bed and were relaxing on the couch. We were just chatting and he asked me out. I didn't really hear him at first because it honestly came out of nowhere."
"Well, that's pretty sweet. It's better than the first time Nino asked me out. He threw a paper plane with 'will you go out with me' on it and threw it, but it missed and hit a very confused Kim."
Marinette laughed, remembering that happening in class. "That was pretty funny. Everyone was talking about it for weeks after it happened! Was his proposal more though out at least?" Marinette leaned back in her chair, surprised she hadn't actually heard the story yet.
"Yeah, it was, actually. He said he had a new playlist that he was thinking of trying out for an upcoming party and he wanted my opinion. I knew something was up because he never asks my opinion on music, but then it was a mix of some of my favorite songs. At the end of the mix he got on one knee and proposed, then we went out to lunch with you, Adrien and Romeo. It was sweet."
Marinette smiled. "Yeah, it sounds just like him to do something like that." Marinette glanced at the clock, sighing. "It's getting late Alya."
"Yeah, well text me, alright?"
Marinette nodded, though she knew her friend wouldn't be able to see it. "Alright! Talk to you tomorrow."
Marinette put down her phone and made her way to her bed, smiling at Tikki who was happily reading a book that was at least three times the size of her. "Are you excited for your date, Marinette?"
"Yeah, but it's not like we have a date picked for it yet. I don't know when we're going to go out. I'm not going to worry myself, though." She rolled her shoulders back, stretching out her muscles. "Why don't we go out for a while? It's such a beautiful night. It would be a shame to not take advantage of it."
Tikki giggled, placing a small bookmark into the pages. "I agree!"
"Tikki, Spots On!" Marinette called, transforming herself into Ladybug and leaping out of her bedroom window, leaving the household for the next few hours, enjoying the night that was blossoming around her.
Adrien wasn't spying on her, per-say. He just happened to be upstairs pacing the hallway for no particular reason when he heard her call out to her kwami. He saw a bright flash of light from beneath the crack in the door and swooned internally. He wanted nothing more than to go out and join his lady for the night but he couldn't leave Romeo at home alone.
Adrien made his way downstairs, smiling to himself, knowing Ladybug was going to watch the city for both of them. He had to make sure he gave her a perfect first date. A hundred euros really wasn't that much. He wanted to do something special for her. Then it hit him. Quickly he rushed to his laptop and pulled up some information. He knew what he was going to do for her. He just needed to wait a few days for it to all come into place.
There was an akuma attack the next day. A man was turning people invisible because he wasn't noticed by the girl who he loved. If she didn't notice him then he'd make it impossible for her to notice anyone else.
Fortunately they managed to wrap up the attack quickly, neither Ladybug or Chat Noir having to use Lucky Charm or Cataclysm. They decided to relax on top of the Notre Dame, sitting on top of one of the large bell towers, their legs dangling off the edge of the church, watching the Parisians and tourists alike, seeing them occasionally get pointed out by an excited fan. They didn't them much mind though.
"So why did you run away?" Ladybug asked looking straight ahead, avoiding her partner's gaze. "Did I do something wrong?"
He shook his head placing one of his hands over her's. "Never. I- I had something personal going on, that's all."
"Do you want to talk about it?" She still wasn't looking at him. There was this tension between them now as Ladybug and Chat Noir, one that didn't exist between Marinette and Adrien. He didn't like this tension and needed to resolve it. He didn't know how to though, without blurting out that he found out her secret identity.
"Not really," he muttered as a reply. "You just remind me of a friend."
"Friend, huh?" she was finally turning to face him. "Listen, there's something that's been bothering me. You said your son doesn't really have a mother. What happened to her? This wasn't some one night stand gone wrong, was it?"
"Not really." Chat leaned back, using his hands to steady himself, and looked up at the sky. "It was right after you left. I was patrolling like I did every night and there was this woman. She was just standing at a bridge, so I went up to her. Looking back it's likely she was waiting for me. I went up to her and asked her if she needed any help. She passed me this basket and I looked inside, saw there was a baby in there. I looked up to ask her why she was giving him to me, but she already had the gun against her head. I didn't have time to react before she pulled the trigger." He let out a deep breath, tapping one of his index finger's against the stone. "I wasn't able to save her, but she gave me her son. I had to hold onto him, you know? He's a great kid, one of the best parts of my life."
"One of?" Ladybug was looking at him, her eyes filled with sadness.
He gave her a weak smile. "You're the other best part, Bugaboo." He pressed a kiss to her cheek and stood up, grabbing his baton. "Well, this cat has got to go. It's been fun, mew know. We should do this more often." He launched himself off the church and into an alley. She didn't follow him, but instead continued to sit on the roof, letting the breeze surround her. Her hand subconsciously lifted to her cheek, touching where Chat had kissed her. The feeling had sent shivers down her spine. Her body reacted to him like he was electricity and she was a battery. She wanted the spark to stop, though. She had Adrien back home. Adrien and Romeo.
Next time she saw Chat she would tell him that she couldn't be with him. She had told him once before that her heart belonged to someone else, but maybe he thought her feelings for him had died years ago. It would usually be a fair assumption. Most high school crushes were fleeting and went away with the wind. She was one of the few that held onto her crush years later, but it seemed like Chat would know all about that. He was one of the others that held onto his. How did she turn him down without breaking his heart, continuing to show him support? It seemed like he had enough hardship while she was away.
A beep of her earrings told her it was time to return home, so she did, flying off into the direction of her home she shared with the Agreste boys. She transformed in an alley a block away and walked home, trying to not let herself become distracted by Chat's story. She wondered how Romeo came into Adrien's life? How did the two most important men in her life both end up with little boys that meant the world to them? The world was a strange place. She entered the house, seeing Adrien sitting on the couch, one arm slung over the back, Romeo sitting on his left. Adrien was reading a picture book and Romeo was absorbing every word. However Romeo came into Adrien's life, it was obvious that he was really lucky. The boys looked up from their spot when they heard her enter, Romeo running over to Marinette and hugging her leg. "You're back! Will you read with us?" He wasted no time in asking.
"Come on, Romeo. I'm sure Marinette's tired. Let's let her go upstairs."
She shook her head and made her way to the couch. "No, this is fine. I'll join you. What are we reading?"
"Fairytales! You can read all the girl parts and Papa can read the rest!"
Marinette laughed, nodding. "Sounds like a plan." Romeo sat down, nestling himself between the two adults. Adrien put his arm back around the couch, but took one of Marinette's hands in his, intertwining his fingers in hers. Her heart sped up and a smile crossed her face. She could get used to this.
Can y'all believe we're over halfway through at this point? Less than a week until Valentine's Day! I'll be sad to finish up this story. I'm really enjoying writing Romeo, as well as Marinette and Adrien. I know this chapter is a bit filler-y, but hey, LB got some background at least! I wanted to take it a bit slow today since the last two chapters had a lot happen between the one sided reveal and the date. Seriously guys, thank you all so much for your support! It's incredible! You are all so amazing! I'll see y'all tomorrow!
