Day 12 – Post-Reveal

"Adrien?" she gasped, her hand slipping from his hair to brush against his cheek instead.

"Um, hi," he breathed, frightened to raise his voice too loud in case he broke whatever enchantment they seemed to be under.

"But that means…" she trailed off, her soft, surprised look fading away quickly to be replaced by a hard, infuriated frown.

"How much will it cost me to stop you from running out right now and murdering my father?" he asked.

"Far more than the allowance mama and papa give you," she said with a glare.

It was jarring how much things remained unchanged at home. Yes, home. Because that was exactly how he had been thinking of Marinette's house for a while now.

They had confidently agreed that neither one of them was ready for her parents to know the opposite sides of their masks yet; the last he seemed to have seen of confident Marinette in a few days now, in fact.

"Okay, there's no way the two of you ganging up on me is fair," Tom complained as he pounded his thumbs against the controller in his hands with a pout.

"There's no fair in video-games, Papa," Marinette told him, briefly removing one hand from the controller to offer Chat a fist bump before returning immediately, refusing her father even a second of mercy, and definitely not thinking about how Chat had tried to hold on after she had pulled away.

Adrien wrinkled his nose at her words. "I still don't need an allowance, you know."

"Sure, you don't. You just flutter your eyelashes and waitresses just give you your lunch for free," she countered, remembering now how Adrien had emptied his pockets to come up with enough change for a sandwich the other day. She had just assumed he had left his wallet at home.

"They might, you don't know," he blushed, "Ladies love a black kitty. I seem to remember someone telling me that black kittens are their favourite."

He winked at her.

"Hmm, not cool, son. I thought we were friends," Tom said after his third defeat of the night.

"Sorry, Tom," Chat replied with a grin, "But if the princess requests aid, I must deliver."

Marinette prayed her dad didn't sit forward in his seat, because if he did, he would certainly see how warm her face had gotten. She stood up as she caught sight of him beginning to move from the corner of her eye, under the pretence of fetching herself a drink, and stumbled when she felt a clawed hand on her shoulder unexpectedly.

"Hey, I was thinking we could watch a movie tonight," Chat said, oblivious to her flushed face - or at least doing well at pretending he didn't see it.

"S-Sure," she answered, keeping her eyes trained strategically on the apple juice she was pouring and absolutely refusing to focus on him or her dad, "Anything in particular?"

"Well, there's a Lucy Liu marathon on tonight. Fancy it?"

"Urgh. I hate her." She pulled a face and rolled her eyes.

"What?" he asked, turning to look at Tom in disbelief, who only laughed in response, "Why?"

"She can pull off freckles when I can't. It's not fair."

"Don't be silly," he said, leaning in extremely close without warning, until his nose was almost touching her own, "Your freckles are absolutely breath-taking."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yup! Sure! Yeah! Just…suddenly replaying everything that I ever said or did around Chat and realising I did it around you - Adrien!"

"Uh, okay? Is…that bad?"

"OhmyGod!" she squeaked, ignoring his question, "Everything Chat's ever said was coming from you!"

"Well then," Tom said with a hidden chuckle amongst the words, "Some of us have to be up early tomorrow, so I guess I'll leave you kids to it."

"'Night, Papa," Marinette murmured from her place at the kitchen counter, intent to keep her face hidden until well after the colour had faded from her cheeks.

"Maybe skip the Lucy Liu tonight, son," he told Chat as he walked through the door, "Just stick with a rom-com or something instead." Marinette pretended not to see the wink he sent Chat before closing the door completely.

They both stood there in silence for several minutes; Marinette intently studying her glass while Chat watched the door, his black ears flicking as he seemed to pick up on minuscule noises her own ears couldn't hear.

"I think he just got into bed," he said suddenly, "What are the chances he'll get up again, or should I wait until he falls asleep too?"

"He's down for now," she answered, finally trusting her traitorous blood vessels enough to turn and face him again, "It's safe."

Adrien let out a huge sigh as he detransformed, as if the act of staying in uniform took its toll on him, as well as Plagg. The kwami himself phased into the fridge briefly before the door flung wide and he emerged with a huge wedge of cheese

"I am going to eat this on your bed, and you can't stop me," he told his chosen.

Smiling, Adrien waved the back of his hand at him as a dismissal. "Just don't get crumbs in the sheets," he said, "or I'll make sure we're mysteriously out of any unprocessed dairy next time."

Deciding to disappear with a grump, Plagg went off in search of Tikki in the loudest way possible, the room full of tuts and huffs until he finally made his way through the open trapdoor.

"You were there when I asked you to protect me from Evillustrator!"

"Well, yeah. Obviously. But-"

"Argh! You jumped off a building when your bodyguard was akumatized!"

"Well, to be fair, you told me to."

"I don't know if my heart can take much more of these realisations, Adrien!"

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked her, and Marinette's head snapped up, brain fog dissipating enough for her to realise he had been speaking to her, while she stared blankly.

"Sorry," she said, her lips wearing a soft smile as she suddenly found the strength to make herself relax.

This was Adrien. This was Chat. This was her roommate. Her partner. Her friend. This boy meant the world to her, regardless of which side of the mask he was on.

"I was miles away," she said with a gentle shake of her head. "Are we putting on this movie or what?"

"Maybe I shouldn't have shown you who I am. You don't seem to be taking it very well."

"What! Me? Noooo!" Marinette said, a little louder than was strictly safe if she didn't want to alert her parents. Drawing on all her courage reserves she took a long, deep breath, turning to look at Adrien when she had done.

"I'm just adjusting to the idea that the boy who has been fighting akumas with me and sharing my room, is also a boy I…go to school with."

"But, does that matter? I thought you liked me. We're friends at school, aren't we?"

Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger and let out a deep sigh.

"Yes, I l-like you," she said, proud of herself for only stuttering once, considering the potential double meaning behind her words.

She glanced up to see how he had reacted. Despite her admittance, his face was pained. Hopeful, certainly, but he was preparing to be disappointed and emotionally injured just in case she devastated him.

"And don't you like Chat?" he asked in a choked tone.

Marinette swallowed roughly, her throat feeling drier than it had twenty minutes ago.

"Yes, kitty," she said, a sudden realisation flowing over her, "I like Chat too."

Uh oh. Don't tell me someone else realised their feelings too?