A.n.- I'm back! I'd like to apologize for the wait, I was sick for the last 5 days. I want to thank my betas for putting up with me. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
The sound of two girls squealing rang out in the coffee shop. Despite Marinette seeing Alya as Rena Rouge, it was different to hang out outside of an akuma attack. Her school was an hour away from her own, and with her pursuing a degree in journalism it kept her busy.
"Girl, you are glowing. Have you done something different? Wait, don't tell me, let me guess," Alya said.
This little game of theirs only happened a couple months out of the year, but Alya insisted that it was a way to keep her mind sharp. Marinette resisted the urge to tease that after the many years together she hadn't figured out that she was Ladybug without her help. If she hadn't confessed to her, her best friend would still be chasing her around Paris.
"Usual terms?" Marinette asked as the two moved towards the line, which was longer than usual today; maybe that would give her friend a fighting chance.
"Sure, I'm feeling lucky today." Marinette was confident that this was a losing battle for Alya but who was she to deny her friend's entertainment? Besides, it was an easy way to get free coffee.
"You got a new outfit?" She didn't mean to chuckle at her first guess, but she was sure she had worn this outfit once before around.
"A new haircut?" Alya's second guess was worse than the first, but Marinette gave her the benefit of the doubt since she wore her hair up most days.
"Do you even know me?" Marinette said. Her hand rested on her chest in fake hurt. The two erupted in laughter, their shoulders bumping playfully.
"I know, you're glowing because you finished a new design in time to show Mr. Agreste on Monday?"
"I think Mr. Agreste will be too busy to even speak to the interns." She'd rather just use her time there to soak up all information she was given.
"But I'm sure Adrien would jump at the chance to show his dad some of them. He has always seen your talent," Alya argued.
Marinette fought the heat rising on the back of her neck. Adrien wouldn't be the type of person to lie about that kind of thing, yet it was better safe than sorry.
"I don't want to get ahead that way." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously as her eyes fell to the floor.
"It's all about who you know," Alya replied with a shrug. "You have serious talent girl. I hope that you don't waste it."
Is that what she thought? That it was a mistake not to show her designs? "I'll think about it, I promise."
All thoughts on her career were halted the second she saw a headline on a local tabloid.
End of Ladynoir?
She couldn't control herself and snatched up the magazine. She instantly recognized the picture of one of her adventures out with Chat. She had convinced herself that they would be fine, but apparently, they weren't careful enough. Her only saving grace is that the photographer hadn't captured her face.
"What is this?"
"I know, scandalous, right?" Alya commented. "I thought the kitten was smitten with you. Apparently now there's this other girl, but no one can get a clear shot. There are dozens of photos in there."
Marinette's fingers never flew to a page number faster, only to find that she was right. There were tons of pictures of her and Chat, all with her face blocked in some way. The most intimate one was them in a deep embraced that was totally taken out of context.
Chat had been upset, and she was only trying to comfort him. He said it had to do with his Mother. He didn't expand further, and it didn't feel right to pry.
"I bet all of these were taken out of context," Marinette grumbled.
As much as she wished that things blossomed them, Chat hadn't made a move since she had told him about Adrien. The last thing she wanted was to ruin their friendship by acting off her feelings. He would have to act first.
"What's got you bugging?" Alya grinned cheekily causing Marinette to roll her eyes. It was obvious that Rena was being influenced by Chat. "Are you jealous?"
"More worried," she answered truthfully. She would have to be careful now that she knew they were watching them.
"Well don't wig out girl. I'm sure whoever this new girl is, it will fizzle out. Then he'll be crawling back on all fours straight to you."
That's what I'm concerned about. She loved the time she got to spend with her partner. It was a loophole around the secret identities, he got to see both sides of her. Was that selfish? If anything happened to their friendship-
"Marinette?"
"Hmmm..." She replied, snapping out of her own thoughts.
"I said, are you ok? You suddenly look pale."
Marinette ignored the question for as long as she could as she recomposed herself.
"I'm fine," she lied, rolling the tabloid in half and not returning it to the rack. If Alya questioned her further, she could always lie and say it was for research. Alya was always on the side of Ladynoir.
"Is there any way you can give me the slightest hint?" Alya begged looping back to the original subject. Maybe she did have the upper hand, but Marinette didn't feel any remorse for her friend, not when it was her idea for this game in the first place.
"Well I could, but then you lose and have to pay for my coffee," Marinette reminded her.
"But-" Marinette shot a look, defusing the rest of the excuse. Alya pulled out her wallet to pay, wearing her look of defeat. Her lips curled in satisfaction as she sipped her prize. Free beverages tasted better somehow. She supposed she could steer her in the right direction.
"Well if you must know, it involves a- "She was cut short when another body collided with hers. Her coffee exploded over the floor, but all she could do was stand there mortified. She had managed to yield her clumsiness, but there were rare moments when it reared its ugly head more than she would like. The coffee had splashed all over his clothes.
"I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to. I wasn't watching where I was goi- "Any further words turned to goo when her eyes met crystal blue ones.
Not did she spill coffee all over a stranger, but he was gorgeous. His dark hair was a neat kind of messy with bright blue tips blaring brightly against the black. His lean figure towered over hers, and as she allowed her eyes to drift down his body she indeed saw that there were dark splotches on his clothes.
"It was my fault." He offered a smile, but she knew he was only trying to make her feel better.
His apology was lost when her eyes landed on his Jagged Stone shirt. He like her favorite artist too? She wondered if he ever got to meet him. Alya jabbed her elbow into her side, jerking her from any more potential daydreams.
"I'm sorry, what?" Her cheeks flamed again. Why was she this embarrassing around cute guys?
"I said, let me at least buy you another coffee..." He allowed his voice to drift off in hopes that she would fill in her name.
"Marinette, and you really don't have to." She didn't want to be any more trouble than she already was.
"The name's Luka and trust me, I want to. Besides what kind of guy would I be if let the pretty girl go without her coffee? "
"There's just something about this weather that makes me smile," Amelie confessed hugging Adrien's arm as they strolled down the street. "Don't you agree, darling?"
Adrien managed a stiff nod. If he was honest, he was still stuck on her invitation to dinner with her parents next week. Their schedules had clashed, postponing the eventual meeting, but that luck ran out. Not that he thought her parents wouldn't approve of him, but it still caused his stomach to churn nonetheless.
Amelie glanced nervously over at her boyfriend, her lip curled gently between her teeth. "Marinette seems like she's getting over Bellamy…has she told you anything?"
It was amusing to Adrien how his girlfriend thought that Marinette would share any of that kind of information with him. Sure, she opened up with Chat, but his civilian form was a different story. Even when they were attending high school together, she had never mentioned guys that she liked but now he knew it was because of her crush on him.
"You think there's someone else?" He prompted as one eyebrow rose. Marinette hadn't mentioned liking someone else. He had seen her almost every day, so he would have picked up on the social cues. It wasn't like Marinette could be subtle not to mention the shortage of time with her schooling starting up.
"Definitely. I caught her red handed with a boy in her room the other week."
Even though he knew she was referring to Chat Noir the information still made his skin crawl. That encounter was too close on multiple levels. If Amelie hadn't interrupted them who knows what would have happened.
"Oh, anybody we know?" He was curious about what Marinette told her after they returned. She had mentioned dreading going back because of Amelie's interrogation style.
"Mari kicked me out before I saw him, but he uses your cologne, so they have good taste."
Adrien's nose twitched at Amelie's comment. There were only a few times that he would wear his cologne, but Amelie had insisted that he wear it for their date. He caved, although wishing that the smell would fade quickly just because he had grown sick of it- not to mention the thought of wearing the essence of himself seemed arrogant.
"And she won't tell you anything?" He asked. Amelie's determination had gotten her far in life, surely this translated over to talking to Marinette. If she brought up Chat Noir, then maybe he would use it to gather intel on what his girlfriend thought of the superhero.
"She wouldn't budge. When I cornered her later she insisted that I imagined the whole thing!"
Adrien stopped listening as he felt his heart drop. It shouldn't have stung that Marinette wouldn't tell Amelie about Chat, but it did. Even if she was doing it to protect his identity, this was Amelie that they were talking about. Did Marinette not trust her?
Amelie continued, "But once I figure out her secret boyfriend, I'm sure I can convince her that we all should go on a double date. That way I can scope the guy out and make sure he's worth Mari's time."
Although Amelie had good intentions, it still caused a small flare to burst inside him. Bellamy was his girlfriend's first choice for Marinette and that date ended in disaster. Not to mention him trying to be Chat and Adrien at the same time would be impossible to pull off even if he gave Plagg all the cheese money could buy.
"Maybe there's a reason she's keeping it a secret, we should probably stay out of-" He didn't even get to finish his statement when Amelie pried herself away, crossing her arms defensively.
"What reason could there possibly be that she couldn't tell me?" Her eyes grew wide, the cracks of her insecurities shining through. "We tell each other everything."
This wasn't something he could win unless he outed his alter ego visiting her, and he wasn't sure he was ready to have that conversation yet.
"Never mind," he grumbled. A yelp escaped his mouth as Amelie suddenly grabbed his hand, pulling him around the corner. "What are we doing?" He asked, feeling silly that a grown adult was hiding behind a building when he didn't know why they hid in the first place.
"Who is that with Marinette?" He followed her pointed finger until his gaze stopped on a familiar face who was chatting it up outside a café with Alya and some guy.
"I don't know, I've never seen him before," he replied, eyes narrowing as he zeroed in on the stranger.
"Maybe that's her mystery man," Amelie suggested gleefully, clasping her hands together. The thought made him nauseous.
Adrien didn't like the guy already. It had something to do with the way he was looking at Marinette laughing at one of his jokes. If it was one thing that Adrien prided himself in, it was reading body language* and this guy was too smug. By the looks of the stranger, he was probably a guitarist; he was probably used to girls falling all over him. Marinette was far too smart to fall for this act, right? He ignored his hands curling into fists as he watched the guy reach out and caress her arm.
"It's got to be him. Let's go introduce ourselves." She smiled coyly at her boyfriend who offered a weak one in return. He was much too focused on the interaction between the two and wondering why Alya hadn't stepped in yet to stop it.
Despite Amelie's enthusiasm, by the time they had crossed the street, the dark-haired boy had disappeared leaving behind a blushing Marinette.
"Who was that?" He asked. He watched Marinette's gaze snap directly to the floor trying to hide the color instantly fading from her face.
"Adrien, Amelie, w-what are you doing here?"
His eyebrows furrowed at her words. Was it possible that Amelie was right, and she didn't bother to tell him?
Does it matter, you're with Amelie, his mind quipped back.
It wasn't important; she could date whomever she wanted. He just had more faith that she would at least tell Chat about it. They had grown close in their visits. Now he feared that he did something wrong.
"Don't even try and change the subject, we just witnessed that hottie trying to talk you up," Amelie said. He didn't know what was more alarming that his girlfriend was checking out another guy or that she was doing it in front of him.
"Amelie!" His voice was stern, but any concern fell on distracted ears.
"Jealousy doesn't look good on you, dear," she called over her shoulder, teasing, before turning back to her friend. "Is he the one that you were hiding from me?"
Marinette didn't need Amelie to expand on her question. It didn't however, mean that she knew how too respond to it. She knew her roommate and she would keep pushing until she got an answer, and she wasn't going to tell her it was Paris's favorite cat superhero. It was dangerous enough blurring the lines between Ladybug and Marinette. In addition, she hadn't even talked to Chat about it, and with the tabloid being so close to revealing their friendship, she was in no position to tell the truth. Her only option was to lie.
"Amelie, please don't make a big deal out of this. I didn't want you to meet Luka because we were just starting to get-"
"I KNEW it! I want to know everything." Amelie exclaimed excitedly, throwing her arms around her roommate as Marinette tried not to spill her coffee. Even with Amelie's hug squeezing the air out of her lungs, it was impossible not to notice Adrien's mouth shift to a frown. The behavior puzzled her, sure, Adrien was protective of his friends, but this was the one situation where he didn't need to be. If anything, she thought that after all the support she leant to Amelie and him, the least he could do was pretend to be happy; even if it was a lie.
She could also feel the heat from Alya's stare on the back of her head. There would be consequences to face with her best friend later, those she could handle. If Alya decided to expose her and the lie, then it would be game over and she would have a long night of apologizing ahead of her.
"Yeah, Marinette." Without even seeing her face she could hear the smirk amongst her best friend's words. "How did you two meet exactly? I know you've told me before but I'm sure the story is much better the second time."
Somehow, she almost wished that Alya told the truth. Marinette knew that her lying capability was next to none, and the thought of creating a whole timeline made her insides churn.
"W-We met at the coffee shop, I was such a klutz and spilled my coffee over him," she answered. Some of her best lies were half-truths.
"Ah, spilled coffee blooms into young love. What happened next?" Alya probed further and Marinette wished she could elbow her without it being too obvious.
"I'm sure no one is interested in the rest of the story, it's rather boring."
"Nonsense! I want to hear every detail, we can talk about it on the way home," Amelie said.
"Ah shoot, I promised Alya that we would go to the movies. Why don't you two lovebirds go on ahead and I'll see you at the apartment later." Marinette's answer was enough to appease Amelie and relief flooded through her as the two said their goodbyes. It wasn't until they were out of earshot that Alya's voice made her jump.
"Can you please explain what just happened."
"You don't know, Amelie," Marinette replied. "If I told her that Luka and I just met she would have hounded me about the guy she almost caught in my room. It's just easier this way, trust me."
"And why is that?" Alya crosses her arms and instead of answering Marinette allowed her eyes to drift down to the tabloid she carried.
The journalist's eyes expanded in surprise as everything started to click into place. "Chat Noir?"
"Would you mind keeping it down?" Marinette shushed her friend. Who would need a tabloid if her friend shouted so all of Paris could hear?
"Out of all the people you decide to date Chat Noir?" Alya whispered fiercely.
"It's not like that! He just comes over sometimes and we talk. It's…" She searched for the word, but she couldn't come up with anything remotely close to what she wanted to say. "...nice," she finished lamely.
The power that came with this information was oozing off her friend. "So how does he feel about visiting his Lady outside the mask?" At that moment, Marinette swore she saw a cunning smile form.
"He doesn't," she sighed and reminded herself that it was for the best. "And he won't. Things are already complicated enough, I just don't know what to do." She wouldn't know how he would react if he found out that all those trips were to the girl he claimed he loved over the years. He would probably feel betrayed and stop talking to her altogether. She wouldn't be able to blame him. "Alya, I think I'm falling for him." The confession sunk to her core. It was the first time she had uttered the truth out loud, let alone to someone. What she did know was that her best friend wouldn't leave her alone in the mess that she made.
Alya slung her arm to rest on Marinette's shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze. "Well, why don't we go see a movie of your choice, and on the way, you can tell me everything. In exchange for my excellent advice, you can buy the popcorn," Alya offered. Marinette's lips tucked up into a smile.
"Deal."
One of Marinette's new favorite activities during their time together was to make Chat purr. It never took much, even running her hands through his disheveled locks would grant her what she desired. When the sound reached her ears a new sense of calm overcame her. It was the knowledge that he was being extremely vulnerable with her, he trusted her without knowing that she fought alongside him in the difficult times. He must have thought her mad when he came to pick her up, she insisted that they go somewhere on the verge of the outside of the city. It was the only way to ensure their safety and prevent someone following them.
The two had settled into the position with Chat's head in Marinette's lap and her nails lightly scratching his scalp. Neither party spoke at first, letting their minds wander with the faint lights of the Eiffel tower barely glowing in the distance.
"Mariette, are you embarrassed of me?" The question caught her off guard and her fingers stopped moving. Chat sat up, his green eyes searching hers.
That would be one of the last words she would use to describe Chat. He could be goofy and sometimes his puns were lame, but those were things she came to admire about him.
"Where is this coming from?" Marinette asked, hoping that he would be honest with her. If he had gotten that impression from anything that she had done, the pit resting in her stomach would drop further.
"It was just the other day with hiding me in the closet, and a little birdie told me you claimed it was another guy visiting you…" His voice trailed off unable to finish the thought.
"Are you checking up on me?" She asked tilting her head to the side.
"I was in the neighborhood," he shrugged. "Besides I get concerned when I see a guy all over you in front of the coffee shop." It was hard to keep the bitter tone to a minimum, he was ready to deck the guy when he caressed her arm.
"You saw that?" Her mind immediately retreated trying to remember who was around, but the streets were crowded. He could have been anywhere. She could see the implications he drew. She hid him from her roommate while practically using a total stranger to get Amelie off her back. "Chat, I'm so sorry, let me explain."
"You don't have to tell me anything," he replied.
"You have no reason to be jealous, Kitty. He's just a guy that gave me his number. I only told my roommate that it was him instead of you because I know how she can get. She would have more questions than my best friend Alya. Besides I like it when it's just the two of us." As the silence settled between them she took the opportunity to snuggle closer to him, resting her head on him now. "I could never be embarrassed of you, Chaton." Even the rise and fall of his breathing was calming for her, she didn't know how that was possible.
Adrien let her words sink explanation made sense. If anyone knew how Amelie could be, it was him. He really didn't want to subject Marinette to all that; they were a secret because they had to be. Despite him getting the answer that he wanted, there was still a nagging question in the back of her mind. "Are you going to call him?" He regretted asking the second it left his lips. It wasn't his place, she was just his friend.
"Do you think I should?" She replied without lifting her head. This was dangerous territory, she was placing so much trust in his answer. He couldn't bring himself to tell her not to. He rested his chin on top of her head.
"I think there's someone special out there for you." Nothing more was said on the matter, maybe it was because he didn't trust what else he would say.
"Chat there's something I have to tell you." She pulled away from the comfort he provided to reach into her bag and pulled out the magazine. She had dreaded telling him because it was the mark of a new season. As much as she didn't want it to, it changed everything. "There's a reason that I asked us to come all the way out here."
"What is this?"
"The other reason I lied to my roommate about us. They're plastered all over Paris." His hands gripped loose strands of hair, holding back a frustrated growl. He dealt with the press all the time as Adrien, but this was different. It wouldn't take Ladybug long to put two and two together and rant at him of the dangers of being this close to a civilian. He didn't want to stop meeting though, he had made progress with Marinette as Chat. The idea of all that slipping away terrified him.
"I'm not saying we can never meet up," she replied reading his mind. "We should just lay low for a little bit, let this whole thing blow over." Even as the words left her body grew heavy with dread. "Besides with the Agreste internship, I'll probably have my hands full anyway." Somehow as the excuse left her it didn't help what she was feeling.
"We should head back soon, it's getting late."
She hated how she couldn't read his tone. The fact that he hadn't contributed to the conversation hadn't helped.
"Can we just stay out a little longer?" She asked. After all, they weren't sure when this would happen again.
A soft chuckle rumble against his lips as he placed them to the top of her head.
"Of course, Princess." Neither of them acknowledged the gutting feeling that the exchange felt like goodbye more than anything else.
A.n.- So I know that that leaves it at more of an angsty place, but I promise the next couple chapters are littered with fluff ( both Adrienette and Marichat). We all will make it. I promise. I'm better now, so the next chapter should be out sooner.
