Long chapter alert!
Completely unedited; will edit when I return from my road trip. Been trying to upload this for a week now ;_;
"Adrien, where are we going?" Marinette asked, slightly exasperated.
After refusing to answer any of her questions with anything but a grin, he'd led her towards the restrooms, easily dodging guests along the way when they tried to approach the pair. Instead of joining the line for the restroom, however, the model had taken a left through a door guarded by one of the butlers and into the hallway. It wasn't one of the grand hallways; in fact, it looked rather simple compared to the rest of the mansion. She had a feeling that these were one of the hallways meant for workers, if the occasional passing maids and butlers were anything to go by. Like true trained workers, they hadn't given the pair more than a single glance before scurrying by.
"There's a side door exit meant for trash disposal at the end of this hallway," Adrien explained. "I used to go through there all the time. It's one of the few places where father doesn't have cameras set up since all there is to see is the dumpster."
"...Are you throwing me away?"
"Only if I can be thrown away with you," he replied with a grin. A sudden sense of familiarity struck her, although she wasn't exactly sure why. "Nah, we're going to sneak out to the park."
"The...park? Why?"
"Would you rather stay?"
"Well, not really…" Not if you're not there, she thought silently. "But ou—your friends are looking for you."
"They'll survive. I'll bring you back in time to see the contest results," he promised. Her heart skipped a beat at this. Results probably wouldn't be out for at least another hour, meaning that she'd get an hour alone with Adrien. She didn't know if she'd ever spent that much time alone with him before; maybe that one time when he came over to practice for that gaming tournament, but that was at home where her mom would periodically pop in. This was different; anything could happen in an hour alone.
Then a thought struck her.
"But you're Adrien Agreste," Marinette protested. "Can you just leave like that? Won't your dad be furious if he found out?"
"He…" Adrien faltered in his stride for a moment before quickly picking up his pace, a little faster than before. "My father just wants something to show off. He has enough displays to show off in my place for tonight."
"Adrie—"
"Are you hungry?" He asked, cutting her off. He turned and flashed her a smile. "You haven't eaten yet, have you?"
She knew that he was only attempting to change the topic, but at the mention of food, her stomach growled, reminding her of its existence. She hadn't eaten since dinner, and that seemed like forever ago. Not to mention that she had only eaten a little because she was afraid of eating too much and making her stomach bludge out.
"I am a little hungry," she admitted.
Adrien's eyes lit up. "Do you want to eat before we leave? What do you like? We have five-star chefs working here so you can have anything you want."
"Um, anything is fine, really. I don't really have too much of a preference," she answered. Then, as an afterthought, she added, "I do like sweets though."
"Sweets? That's perfect; I know this amazing bakery by the park that my friend owns—well her parents own it—and I can see if she's still awake—"
"Actually, on second thought, I'm not too hungry," Marinette said hurriedly. There was only one bakery by the park and she had a pretty good guess on exactly which bakery he meant. The last thing that she needed was for him to look for "Marinette" while she was "Ladybug"
"Are you sure?" Adrien looked at her, somewhat deflated. The romantic part of him was hopeful for a small meal under the moonlight. Afterall, what better way to a person's heart than through their stomach? "Do you want to grab a snack before we go at least then?"
Before she could answer, Adrien was already waving down one of the approaching butlers coming from the other side of the hall. The man, who had been keeping his eyes respectfully trained forward and away from the couple, immediately stopped and slightly turned to face them. He bowed, carefully balancing his silver tray as he did so.
As they approached, Marinette could see neatly arranged bite size pieces of toast with what looked like cream and smoked salmon topped with chives resting on top the butler's tray, each hardly half the size of her palm. They were the most pretentious pieces of food she'd ever seen.
"I asked father to keep some of the foods simple," Adrien explained. "Nino said that some people probably weren't comfortable with overly fancy foods. We'll probably pass by a couple more butlers on the way to the kitchen since they're located near the back exit, so if you don't like this we can keep looking. Do you like smoked salmon?"
Simple was a relative term, Marinette thought with slight bemusement. She usually only thought of smoked salmon on toast as a breakfast food, or even lunch, and even the cheaper ones were just out of her usual breakfast spending range. Not to mention, she could already tell that all the food here was top notch; she wouldn't be surprised if the cost of that whole tray right now be equal to the price of her dress.
Well, her original dress anyways.
"I like salmon," Marinette said, politely smiling at the butler. The man managed the barest of smiles back. A thought struck her, and she realized that butlers were probably used to being ignored. She blushed lightly in embarrassment, wondering if she breached some etiquette by acknowledging the man.
"That's good, have as many as you want," Adrien replied, smiling. He took a piece for himself from the tray. "I don't want you to get hungry."
Marinette followed suit, gingerly taking a piece. She briefly considered stuffing the whole thing in her mouth but didn't want to risk looking like an idiot struggling to chew the whole thing.
As if noticing her dilemma, Adrien grinned before popping his own piece right into his mouth, just barely managing to chew with his mouth closed, and winked at her. He looked like a chipmunk.
Letting out a surprised laugh, Marinette did the same with her piece.
Although she was expecting it, the taste took her off guard. It was nothing like any of the smoked salmon with cream cheese she's had before; she could immediately tell that everything was fresh and house made. The normal sweet tang of the cream cheese was slightly cut by the smoked taste of the salmon, and the fish all but melted into the cream. The toast was neither soggy nor too crispy as some toast were, and complemented the toppings beautifully, the lightly buttered bread adding texture as well as stopping the cream from being too overpowering in taste.
"Do you want to grab another piece before we go? Just in case you don't like what the next butler has," Adrien asked. Wordlessly, Marinette nodded.
The next two butlers carried raw oysters and some kind of sea urchin sushi topped with caviar, both of which she tried at the encouragement of Adrien. By the time they were outside, she felt surprisingly full.
The night breeze came as a relief; the inside of the mansion was surprisingly stuffy, even away from most people. Outside, she was free. She kind of felt bad for Adrien, constantly living in this place with no freedom to himself. Without a doubt, his dad kept a careful watch on his son, in or out of the house. With all things considered, it was surprising that he could still smile the way he did at school, instead of being the stuck up guy she once thought he was.
"We'll have to scale the wall," Adrien said sounding apologetic. He gestured at the iron gate next to the dumpsters. "Opening the back gate will alert the security system. But since you're wearing a dress that might be difficult. I can see if one of the butlers can sneak us out, but..." He trailed off uncertainly.
Marinette studied the small enclosure critically. It was clearly built for the sole purpose of guarding the dumpsters from unwanted outside trash. The wall itself was a little less than ten feet in height, with iron spikes curved outwards on the top to discourage trespassers from even trying to scale the wall. One of the dumpsters was pushed against the wall, and she was amused to see that it was spotlessly clean like everything else in the mansion.
"It's fine, I can manage," she reassured him, stepping closer to the dumpster. Even in a dress, she was still transformed as Ladybug. Scaling a wall of this size was nothing to her, especially not when parkouring across Paris was part of her nightly patrols. Closing the dumpster lid, she placed both her hands on the top of the dumpster before gracefully heaving herself on top.
"Are you sure? You're wearing a dress," Adrien frowned, slightly worried as he heaved himself onto the dumpster as well. He kept an arm out behind her, hovering a few inches from the small of her back, ready to catch her if she slipped. Not that he expected her to, of course, he had absolute trust in Ladybug's skills. But Ladybug or not, he couldn't help but worry.
"Don't worry, I do this all the time," she replied easily. She was confident in her abilities; the streets of Paris was her territory and, after countless patrols, she felt at home scaling walls and jumping over rooftops.
"At least let me go first so I can catch you," Adrien offered, but already she had taken hold of the top of the wall. After an experimental yank, she pulled herself to the top easily and for a moment, she was balancing upon the wall before hopping off onto the other side. She landed gracefully on the balls of her feet. Before she could even turn to see if Adrien needed help, the boy model lightly landed just next to her with just as much grace, if not more. She suddenly had a vague impression of a cat, the same lithe and elegance. Then she shook her head. First a chipmunk, then a cat. Next, she'll be comparing him to rooster.
Adrien smiled at her, impressed. He held out his arm to her. "Shall we go?"
Heart skipping a beat at the gesture, she timidly took the offered arm.
"Let's go."
Adrien mentally cursed himself; he'd seen the surprise in her eyes when he had offered his arm. She probably thought that he was old fashioned now. Was there such thing as being too much of a gentleman? As Chat, he had mainly abandoned that gentlemanly attitude in favor of a more flirty one, but maybe being too polite was a little offensive in some way. It probably implied that he thought she was fragile, which was the last thing that he thought of her. Of course, she hadn't said anything about it during their short walk to the park, but with Ladybug he couldn't help but wonder.
Not for the first time, he wondered if she could see his nervousness. She had that effect sometimes, seeming to know more than she let on. More often than not, that actually was the case. Not in that annoying bragging way that some people seemed to do, but more of a genuine modest kind of way. It was nice.
When she released his arm when they arrived at the park he couldn't help but miss her touch. The spot where she had held him felt somewhat empty now, and he briefly wondered if he could offer his arm to her once again when they left.
Unsurprisingly, they were alone at the park. Although it was night, the full moon illuminated the park, giving more than enough light to chase away the dark. It was a familiar sight; he'd been here more times than he could count with Ladybug as Chat, either to meetup for patrols or as a place to hangout before returning to their homes for the night. Ever since their statue was erected in their honor, he and Ladybug often used the statue as their meeting point for the start and end of their patrols.
"It's kind of embarrassing if you stare at our statue for so long," Ladybug joked. With a start, he realized that he had unconsciously drifted closer to the statue. He also noticed that she used "our" instead of "my" He blushed, subtly tilting his head down to create a shadow over his face.
"Sorry, I was jus thinking," he said sheepishly. "It's amazing what you do."
"What Chat and I do," she corrected, almost automatically, as she came to stand next to him. "Chat and I are a team."
"Yeah, of course." Adrien smiled. He slightly turned to face her and was taken aback. No matter how many times he saw her under the moon, she always seemed to amaze him each and every time. The fact that she was dressed up and wearing makeup only accentuated her beauty. Not that she needed makeup. Although he was a model, he always secretly felt slightly inferior to her.
"What do you really think of Chat?" He asked, turning to face the statue once again. Maybe one day Adrien can look back on this statue, remembering the good old days. Hopefully, by that time, he'd actually get somewhere with his feelings with her.
Hopefully.
"Chat?" Ladybug asked. She glanced at him curiously. "That's the second time you brought him up now. Do you like him?" Then, incredulously, "Are you gay?"
"What? No!" Adrien said quickly, shaking his head. Then he stopped and grinned. "Although if I were, he'd be on the top of my list."
Ladybug rolled her eyes. "I'll be sure to let him know."
"Well? You still didn't answer my question."
"Chat is...special. He's my partner and I would trust him with my life any day of the week."
"But you don't trust that he's not a playboy?" Adrien asked. Ladybug shook her head.
"It's not like that exactly. I'm sure he'll be a faithful boyfriend to whoever he ends up with, but it's hard to take him seriously since he's flirting with me all the time. It's hard to take any flirt seriously if that's all they seem to do around you. It just became habit, I guess, to ignore them."
Adrien fell silent at this. He felt...hurt? Disappointed? Probably the latter, but more so at himself than anything. He knew that there must have been a reason for Ladybug to casually reject him every time he jokingly tried something, but he'd always told himself that there must have been a good reason. That she'll take him seriously one day. As model, he wasn't used to chasing girls; what he was used to was girls chasing him. The times that he experimented with chasing girls was with flirting, and they had always seemed to liked it. In fact, Ladybug was the first to ignore him. He didn't know how to feel about that.
"What if he told you that he was serious?" Adrien finally asked. "And that from the beginning, he only liked you?"
This time, it was Ladybug who fell silent. Looking at the statue of herself and Chat, she seemed lost in thought and her eyes softened for a second. Then her brows pulled together into a slight frown.
"I...I don't know," she said, lowering her gaze. Stepping forward, she reached out to lightly trail her fingertips along the base of the statue. "I've never thought about that. I do know that I don't want to risk our friendship. If Chat and I do, um, date then there's a chance that we'll break up. Then we'll never be able to go back to how it was before."
"What if you two don't break up? What if it turns into something great? Something perfect?"
"And if it doesn't?" Ladybug asked, turning to face him. "There are too many 'if's' in this. I just want to play it safe, without risking our friendship."
He didn't have an answer to that. He'd always assumed that it would work out. Just confessing had been his only goal; breaking up never even crossed his mind.
"Besides," she turned away again. "That's not the only reason."
"What other reason is there?" Adrien asked, surprised. Dread filled his stomach. She wasn't dating someone already, was she?
Ladybug mumbled something under her breath, her words too low for him to hear. She seemed to be blushing, but he wasn't sure. He leaned forward slightly.
"What?"
"I…" Ladybug looked down, refusing to meet his gaze. "I-I like someone already…"
His heart dropped. "What?"
She pouted just slightly, refusing to repeat herself.
She liked someone already? Adrien swallowed dryly, trying to control his disappointment. It felt as if someone had taken a hold of his heart, squeezing it. Of course, he'd thought of that possibility a handful of times in the past, but he'd never entertained the possibility that it was true. Or rather, he was too afraid to consider it. But now that Ladybug herself had admitted it, there was no more running from the idea.
Half of him wanted to curl up in a ball in a corner somewhere, while the other half was sorely tempted to excuse himself for the night, away from Ladybug and away from being Adrien. Nightly runs as Chat had become his usual method for stress relief and just a way to forget his troubles, and heaven knows he needs a (legal) way to forget what he just heard right now.
"Adrien?" She was looking at him again. Her eyes were filled with worry. "Are you okay?"
He forced out a smile. "I'm fine. Just surprised. I didn't think that Ladybug had a love interest. Do I know this lucky person?"
She hesitated. He was certain that she was blushing now, and felt a sudden spark of jealousy at this. This person must be dang special to make her blush like this when he couldn't. "Well…"
"Actually," he held up his hand, stopping her. "Don't tell me." I don't trust myself to not hunt the person down, he added silently.
Ladybug looked surprised, even mildly disappointed. But she didn't object and nodded slightly. She looked away again at the statue, without a doubt trying to get her blush under control.
"How about we go sit at the fountain?" He asked, changing the subject. "It's better than standing here all night."
Ladybug nodded, rubbing her arms absentmindedly.
"Are you cold?" Adrien asked suddenly, taking notice of the action. He knew that while transformed, temperature didn't affect them as much as it normally did in order for them to work in all sorts of weather. But he also suspected that it was mainly due to the magical nature of their clothing, and Ladybug was in a sleeveless dress.
"I-I'm fine." She smiled at him reassuringly, but he was already shrugging off his coat. "Really, it's okay."
"I don't want you to catch a cold." He held out his coat to her. "Besides, I'm the one who asked you to come outside with me. Here."
"I'm not cold," she protested. But already, he could see her resistance faltering.
"You're wearing a sleeveless dress. I still have a long sleeve shirt on," he said. When she still hesitated, he joked, "If you don't take the coat, I'll offer you my shirt instead."
At this, she pouted and took the coat from his arms, draping it over her shoulders for a second before changing her mind and carefully putting it on. The coat was only slightly big on her, with the sleeves nearly reaching past her thumbs. Even without buttoning it up, the coat covered most of her torso. In short, she looked adorable.
She made a face at him.
"Happy?"
He grinned. "Yes."
This coat is probably worth more than my whole room, Marinette thought warily. Not for the first time that night, she casually glanced down to check that she hadn't accidentally dirtied it in someway. Trying to come up with the money to pay Adrien back for a dirtied coat would be a nightmare, and knowing her, she'd probably end up dirtying it in one way or another by the end of the night.
It's been awhile since they had sat down at the fountain now. She wasn't sure exactly how long it had been; she didn't have a watch and didn't ask when Adrien periodically glanced at his own to keep track of time. A growing part of her dreaded the approaching stroke of midnight, as it would mean leaving the peace of the park together and returning to the mansion. According to Adrien, contest results wouldn't be out until right before midnight because a previous year featured an angry contestant who attacked the winner, and his father would rather leave the fighting outside this time.
The two had talked about all sorts of topics, from Adrien's daily life (she didn't mention that she already had his schedule memorized) to whether being a butler to a rich family is a better job than owning a small business.
"Everything's routine and if you work well, you'd be treated well. Not to mention free room and board at a mansion without the normal burdens of being rich," Adrien argued.
"Everything is basically routine at a business too, you know," Marinette pointed out. "Butlers have to know how to deal with unexpected situations sometimes. What if a burglar broke in?"
"An Agreste butler who can't even handle a simple break in isn't worth his salt," Adrien countered. He grinned. "I think I'd be a great butler. I can handle myself pretty well."
"A great butler by what standard?"
"My own," he replied easily. "I'll simply be one heck of a butler."
"It's not that easy finding a job as a butler, you know. How much would you even charge? Or are you so great that you'll just take their souls as payment?"
Adrien shrugged. "It seems that it'd be good pay. Besides, I think I have the look down already. Did you see my outfit for tonight? A few adjustments and it'll be perfect."
"Butlers don't wear outfits worth a small fortune."
"Rich butlers might."
"So you're a rich butler now?" Marinette teased.
"You have to look rich to serve the rich," Adrien said with a grin. "But speaking of outfits, should we head back? It'll be midnight soon. Results should be coming out in a bit."
He stood, offering his hand to her.
"Oh...Yeah, sure. Let's go." Disappointed, she took his hand and he pulled her up. She was hoping to spend more time with him; the past hour or so seemed to have flown by in a blink of an eye. Adrien seemed to catch on to her reluctance.
Giving her a curious look, he asked, "Do you not want to go?"
Marinette lightly blushed. Was she that obvious?
"Not really," she admitted.
"Do you want to go home then?"
"Well—"
Beep beep
Surprised, she touched her earrings in shock. She'd completely forgotten about Tikki's warning about not being able to stay transformed for too long until now; how long had she been transformed? Rather than that, how was she going to explain this to Adrien? Would it be too rude to suddenly leave?
Adrien's eyebrows drew together into a frown. "You have to go?"
"Y-Yeah, sorry…" Marinette slightly bowed her head apologetically. It was so close to midnight too, she thought bitterly. Another half hour and everything would have been perfect.
His disappointment matched her own. "Already? But you didn't use your powers yet."
"I'm—how do you know about that?"
"Huh?" Adrien cocked his head to the side. "How do I know what?"
"You said, 'But you didn't use your powers yet'" she quoted. "How do you know that using my powers has something to do with having to leave?"
"Er, did I say that?" Adrien forced out a laugh. "You probably heard me wrong."
"No I didn't.," she argued. "I heard you clearly."
"Well, I mean, I probably read about it online or something. Ladyblog, and stuff."
"It's not on the Ladyblog. Even Alya doesn't know about that yet."
"I'm a huge fan."
"Really." She raised her eyebrow, unconvinced.
"It's not that hard to guess, you know," he tried. "You leave the scene within minutes after each attack."
"Maybe I'm just a very busy person."
"You've been here for the past few hours, but you can't spare a few minutes after an attack? Don't you have a patrol or something to do?"
"...Chat's covering for me tonight."
Adrien smiled amusedly. "Really."
"Yes, really. Do you doubt me?" Marinette challenged. Her earrings beeped again.
"Maybe." He crossed his arms, his smile broadening. "So you're telling me that Chat's out there, right now, doing a patrol?"
"Well—I don't know where exactly he is right now but yeah, probably."
"You told him to cover for you tonight?"
"He...knows." Suddenly, she felt very uncertain. He seemed too confident, too sure of himself. Not to mention, he seemed to be having a lot of fun with these questions, almost as if he knew something she didn't.
"Why all these questions?" She asked, straightening her back in an attempt to regain control. "Are you interrogating me now?"
Adrien shrugged. He was grinning now. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"There are a lot of things I'm not telling you. You'll have to be specific," she countered. She crossed her arms as well, mirroring him.
"If there's a lot of things you didn't tell me, how can I be specific?"
"A girl has her secrets. Besides, you stopped me from telling you something earlier," she said. However, as soon as those words left her mouth, she immediately regretted them.
Adrien frowned. "The person you like?"
Her earrings gave another warning beep.
"Um…"
"So if I tell you I change my mind, will you tell me?"
"You know what, I really have to go. Thank you for tonight. Bye!" She turned to leave.
"Wait," He grabbed her arm. "I changed my mind."
"Adrien, I have to go. Like, now," she said. She was all too aware of the time she had left now, and Adrien was probably the last person she wanted to detransform in front of. She pulled her arm out of his grip.
"Can't you just tell me?"
"Can't you let this go?"
"Probably not," he admitted.
"Why does it matter so much to you?" She asked, suddenly frustrated.
He didn't answer. The earrings beeped.
Two minutes left.
"I—" Her face was beet red now. "I like—"
"You like?"
"You, okay? I like you!" She couldn't bring herself to look at his face, instead choosing to study the ground. Even her ears felt burning hot.
"I like you," she repeated, quietly this time.
Silence.
It was almost as if the air itself had held its breath, waiting for a response. When none came, she swallowed dryly and slowly straightened.
She didn't dare meet his eyes. Strangely, the ground seemed to start to blur. "I—I'm going to go."
"Ladybug—"
"Goodnight, Adrien."
Then, she turned and ran.
Ignoring Adrien's shouts, she hitched up her dress to her knees and ran with all the swiftness that came with being Ladybug. Within seconds, she was at the edge of the park. Within a minute, she had disappeared into the streets of Paris.
A minute later, she was Marinette.
All but crashing into an alleyway wall, she just barely caught herself. Tikki was slightly less fortunate; the kwami lightly flew straight into the wall as she separated from the transformation and floated off in a daze.
"Marinette?" Tikki quickly shook her head, clearing it. "Are you okay?"
The kwami looked around for a couple seconds in confusion before a faint sob caught her attention. Looking down, she spotted the girl. Knees curled up to her chest and head down, she hugged herself tightly, her body shaking.
"Oh, Marinette…" Tikki flew down, gently landing on the girl's shoulder. She was clearly shaking now. Her nails dug into her arms.
Not sure what to do, Tikki could only pat her shoulder reassuringly.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the sobs grew quiet. Shuddering breaths turned to hiccups, and all was still.
"Are you okay?" Tikki asked quietly, breaking the silence. Marinette nodded, just slightly.
"Are you sure?" Again, another nod, more prominent than the last. She lifted her head. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Marinette slowly blinked, her eyes eventually focusing on her sleeves.
"I'm still wearing his coat," she commented tiredly, almost to herself.
"You were wearing that when you detransformed," Tikki confirmed, giving one final, gentle pat. "Are you ready to go?"
Marinette inclined her head in reply before standing, slightly wobbling in the process. She opened her bag.
"I'm sorry. You must be hungry. Here." She handed Tikki a cookie, to which the kwami took gratefully, although still worried. She continued to watch Marinette over her nibbling.
Marinette sighed, pulling out her phone. The screen shone brightly at her, momentarily blinding her and she rubbed her eyes in response. Hopefully, her parents hadn't checked on her yet; she'd have to sneak in as Ladybug later. She checked the time.
11:59PM.
It was a minute until midnight.
Author's Note
ReallysorryabouthischapterI'llfixitlaterIswear
I'll try to edit out the cheesiness/choppiness in this chapter so it's not so cliche later...
Can you tell I've never described food before? Lol
Sorry for the late update; as stated before, I only update this story every two updates for my more popular Miraculous story, Ceramics Class... . But I finally finished summer classes so I have a few weeks before fall classes start :)
Thank you for reading!
Ern Estine 13624 - Sorry for the late update! I hope this chapter was okay ;_;
SailorMew4 - Thank you for reading! Hopefully this chapter was cute too :)
Guest - Ahaha, I must confess, dance scenes are one of the ones I hate writing the most (I did try to put one in though; it just didn't work) Thank you for reading!
Guest (2) - Definitely gonna put that in a future one-shot, haha. Thank you for reading!
JEnathan - What can I say, I'm a fan :) Thank you for reading!
The-Right-Girl - Ah, thank you! Keeping characters in character is actually my biggest problem aside from keeping flow and logic; thank you for reading! I hope to improve eventually :)
mayuralover - Adventure time! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! :3
yellow 14 - Sorry for the late update! Hopefully this bigger chapter made up for it :)
Luiz4200 - I'm not done with the chapter as of typing this right now but I'm trying to work it in there! (I couldn't get it in ;_;) Thank you so much for reading!
missdragongirl- Thank you! Hopefully this chapter wasn't too much of a letdown; I actually really wanted to work that in somehow but I just couldn't . Maybe in the next chapter or so :) Thank you so much for reading!
Guest (3) - Thank you for reading! Here's an update :)
MyLittleBigBangSwitchAtOlympus - They're about to come together :) Thank you for reading!