Author's Note:

What do you call a bee who's had a spell put on him?

He's bee-witched!

There were quite a few artist who drew pictures based on Sting. I'd love to thank jara-does-art-things, chibi-kiwi93 and hchano for the beautiful pieces they drew.

jara-does-art-things. tumblrdotcom /post/148525061520/yeah-so-the-legs-arent-shown-because-i-didnt

chibi-kiwi93. deviantartdotcom /art/Can-we-fix-it-626377243

hchano. tumblrdotcom /post/148581529161/isnt-it-miraculous-aaaaaaaaaand-kryallaorchid

Chapter 14

Shocked, Marinette said the first thing which popped into her head. "Don't you knock?"

With a cringe, Bumblebee stepped down from her bed and stood at the top of the stairs. "I'm sorry. You seemed engrossed, I wasn't sure you'd hear me."

"Chat Noir always knocked," she chided. She glanced at the mess of fabrics strewn around her. She should be embarrassed at the state of her room, but mostly she was in shock at his arrival. How much did he hear? "Why are you here?"

"I didn't come back last night tell you the fight was over and I felt bad about that."

She blinked. Then blinked again. Tilting her head, she said, "You're a hero. You don't need to worry about me."

"It comes with part of being a hero. I worry about my friends. And as Bumblebee, I don't have a lot."

Stabbing her in the heart would hurt less. "Oh."

"Would you mind if I hang out here for a bit?"

Maybe, if he did, she could find a way to tell him who she was. Drop some more hints. Pun or flirt. Or maybe he already knew and was allowing her time to confess? She didn't know, but… she didn't want him to leave. She had a chance to make things right. "Um… I don't have any cookies."

"I'd prefer company over cookies."

She nodded. "Okay."

Grinning, he bounced over the railing beside her bed and dropped to the floor. "So, what are you doing?"

She went red. "I… um…"

He gasped as he spotted what was on her desk. Shooting her an incredulous look, he bounced closer to the desk. "No way! You're making me?"

"It's tradition," she muttered. "It was supposed to be a surprise."

"How long have you been working on this?"

"I… just started."

He picked up the already sewn goggles to peer at them in awe. "You are amazing, Marinette. I mean, look at this detail! And you just started?"

Nope. No. She couldn't do it. She couldn't sit here and pretend she didn't know who he was. Not when they were alone like this. She couldn't stand knowing how much she'd probably hurt him.

"Can I help?" he asked, puppy-eager. "I always wanted to know how to sew. Could you teach me? Can I watch?"

Her throat burned. Scratchy and raw and full of grief and guilt. She couldn't handle this. Not right now. Not like this. Everything hit her all at once, there wasn't even a chance she could suppress it. She hunched her shoulders and pressed her face into the faux fur.

"Marinette?"

Folding in half, she bent over her knees to make herself smaller and hide from him while she struggled with herself.

Footsteps, and rustling as he hunkered down beside her. "Marinette?"

She shook her head and curled tighter. More shuffling as he shifted to sit beside her, then she felt his hand between her shoulder blades. He rubbed, soothing up and down strokes or small circles, while Marinette fought against the surge of tears, suppressing ugly sobs as much as she could. The kindness in him only made her cry harder. She didn't deserve this. She didn't.

Somehow, between the sobs and the pats, she managed to blurt out, "I hurt a friend by believing a lie and now I don't know if he'll forgive me."

He bent over with her, his hands on her upper arms to coax her up. "Oh, honeybug," he murmured, his voice right beside her ear. "It's not as bad as you think. Some lies can be pretty bee-lievable."

She lifted her head a fraction. The faux fur was damp with tears. She couldn't use this. It seemed a silly, inconsequential thing to be worried about at this point in time, but she was a mess. "And now I ruined your fuzz."

He gently pried the fabric from her fingers. With deliberate care, he placed it on the floor, then took her hand. "Come here." Another gentle tug and reposition and he pulled her into his lap. Arms around her, he coaxed her so her cheek rested against the fuzz at his collar and her knees were across his leg. The top of her head fit into the curve of his neck perfectly. "I don't care about that. I care about you."

She lifted a hand to run her fingers through his fluff. "I don't deserve it."

"Sure you do. You are wonderful and amazing and don't let anyone tell you that you're not."

She closed her eyes in pain. "Chat, you don't understand. I need to tell you something."

"You don't need to tell me anything," he said, resting his cheek against her head. "I already know. I figured it out, honeybug."

She went rigid. That was twice he'd called her honeybug. She hadn't really registered the first one, because she thought he was just being nice, but the second was quite deliberate. Plus, he hadn't reacted to her accidently calling him 'Chat'.

His fingers stroked up and down her spine. "Shh. It's okay."

She squeaked.

"You weren't being half obvious about it with the hair fluffs, the puns and kitten eyes."

"But— but— I— what?"

"I didn't want to get my hopes up that it was you."

Her brain felt like it was stuffed with cobwebs. "Huh?"

"It would've been too perfect and I can't be that lucky. I was convinced I was seeing things that I wanted to see. Deedee told me to watch for a change and… you were the only one who seemed to sincerely believe Lila. And that made sense if you were Ladybug too." He chuckled. "I can't believe you were right behind me all this time."

She burst into more hopeless, wet sobs and covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

His arms encircled her. "Marinette, it's okay—"

"No, it's not. It's really not. I was so stupid! I ran away and I was hurtful and I don't know how to make it better."

"I believed her lies too," he said. "Plus, you already said you believed me over her. Something I'd done made you think her lies could be true and I'm sorry for making it seem like I could."

She wouldn't let him take the blame for this one. It was on her. "No, no, it's not your fault, I jumped to conclusions, I always jump to conclusions. It was easier to believe you could be into her because she's glamourous and confident and beautiful, than think I was so lacking in what you wanted that you couldn't fall for me."

He seemed appalled. "Marinette, that's not true."

She continued to babble, "I was stupid and jealous. I should've just listened. Given you a chance to explain."

He lifted his hand and cupped her neck, cuddling her to him. "It's okay. It really is. I forgive you."

She choked on a sob. "You shouldn't. I don't deserve it. I hurt you."

"I don't deny that," he replied and her chest gave a painful squeeze. "You did. I still forgive you."

He held her while she cried, rocking and soothing and allowing her time to quell her tears. He stroked his fingers along her spine, up to the back of her neck and down to the small of her back. He nuzzled and crooned, small nonsense noises to let her know everything was fine. He was there. It was okay.

Eventually, the tears dried and her hands fell from her face to her lap. She stared at swirls in her wooden floorboards and listened to the soothing rhythm of his heartbeat.

Crying left her feeling emotionally drained, with an undignified runny nose. Trying to be subtle, she sniffled and pulled her handkerchief from her pocket to wipe her face. Bumblebee's hand dropped from her neck to clasp his other one at her hip, a more comfortable position for both of them.

She didn't know what to say. She didn't feel like she deserved forgiveness at all. Tentatively lifting her hand, she reached out and buried her fingers in his floof, feeling the soft texture slide between her fingers.

After a while, he nuzzled the top of her head. "Marinette?"

She swallowed, mentally preparing herself for this conversation. "Yes?"

"Were you really checking out my butt?"

She covered her face. "Oh. God."

He teased, "And do you really think I'm adora-bee?"

She whined and mumbled something to the effect of, "You know you're gorgeous."

"Your opinion is the one which matters."

She sighed and dropped her hands. Keeping her head tucked into his neck, she murmured, "Do you remember the first time we met?"

He sucked in a breath. "Yeah. The dreaded chewing gum incident."

"You apologised and you gave me your umbrella, remember that?"

"Of course."

Catharsis came from crying, leaving her emotionally open and honest. "I've had a massive crush on you since then."

A sharp intake of breath. "Really?"

"I mean… I was fine watching you from afar and being your friend and seeing you happy… and making stupid goo-goo eyes at you in class."

He slid his hand from her hip, trailing fire across her forearm until he reached her hand. Spreading his fingers, he invited her to interlock her fingers with his. Such big hands compared to hers, but they fit together so well, palm to palm. "You did?"

"I am completely hopeless," she admitted.

"You're not the only one, you know."

That was nice to hear. "And then… Chat went missing and I went crazy with worry. I never… I thought if anything happened between us would destroy what we had and… I never let myself think of you that way, and then suddenly you were all I could think about." She lifted her head so she could look at him. "I need you, Chat. I need you to fight beside me. You make me brave and strong and lift me up so high. But I don't want to ruin that. We have a duty to Paris, what if— what if we lose that?"

The intensity of the expression on his face made her heart flop. She doubted, by the tilt of his head, he was looking at her eyes. "Marinette, we won't lose that."

The huskiness in his voice threatened to turn her into a puddle of goo. Fighting against the urge to lick her lips, she murmured, "Adrien's my crush and Chat's my best friend and I don't know how to make those jigsaw pieces fit together in my head. Everything is muddled."

Drawing back a fraction, he swallowed. "Stone-heart," he said. "That was it for me. You stood on the Eiffel Tower and you yelled at Papillon and made the promise that you'd never let him win and I was in absolute awe of you. I vowed right there I'd love the girl beneath the mask."

Her cheeks burned at hearing him say that. "But you didn't see Marinette."

The arm around her back lifted so his fingers could stroke her neck beneath her ear. "I saw you."

The world spun. Fire burned beneath her skin where he touched her and kept the heat in her cheeks. Her palm was ridiculously damp against his. She wished she could see his eyes instead of her stunned reflection in his goggles.

"Yes, I was hung up on Ladybug and didn't want to take a chance with anyone else, but that doesn't mean I don't like you. If it was going to be anyone at school, it would've been you," he said, finishing the sentence from earlier today.

"Really?"

He nodded. "Did you think I was lying all those times I said you were amazing?"

"I…"

"You're amazing and kind and courageous and bee-utiful and…" he laughed. "I tried to set you up with Nino!"

She drew back. "What?"

"Well, he liked you and I liked you, but I knew I couldn't, well I thought I couldn't at least, and Nino's a great guy!"

Marinette nodded. "He is."

"I thought, if it couldn't be me, at least I'd get to see you happy and I knew Nino would do that."

"Wow."

He ducked his head down until his forehead rested against hers. "We're really blind, aren't we?"

"Yeah." She swallowed. "I'm really, really sorry, Adrien."

"I know."

"Adrien, can Deedee come out?" Tikki called.

Marinette and Bumblebee turned their heads. Tikki was lying on her stomach in the air above the desk, with her chin cupped in her paws and a serene smile on her face as she watched them.

Embarrassed, Marinette buried her face in Bumblebee's neck while he laughed. "Sure. But only for a little while. We need to go before I'm missed. Fuzz off."

"Fuzz off," she said as the suit tremored. "Really?"

"It's cute," Adrien said as his transformation was zapped from his body.

Deedee zipped circles around them, squealing excitedly. Her waggle was so happy, she couldn't fly straight. "I knew you could do it!" She darted up close to Adrien's face and kissed his nose before she nipped over to Tikki. "Oh, this is so exciting."

"They're going to be incorrigible about this," Marinette said.

Adrien watched the kwami. "Plagg will be worse when he gets back. Full of 'I-told-you-so's' and demands for cheese."

"Adrien?" Marinette murmured and Adrien turned his attention to her. "What happens now?"

"I don't know," he replied and his cheeks turned pink. "What would you like to happen now?"

"I think… it's still hard to believe."

"Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy."

"We should… get used to… being ourselves around each other? In and out of the mask. Maybe? I don't know. What do you think?"

Adrien smirked and she could see her Chat in that smile. "I think," he purred, "you're currently curled up in my lap. And I like you there."

Chat's smirk. Adrien's face. Chat's flirting. Adrien. She couldn't handle it. She yelped and squirmed.

With a light laugh, he let her scramble away. "I didn't say you had to leave."

She turned her back on him and brushed herself down, trying to distract herself from her embarrassment. She glanced over her shoulder and wondered if the blush gracing her cheeks was going to become permanent as she saw the puppy-dog look on Adrien's face as he watched her.

His eyes widened and he wiped the expression off his face as he realising he'd been caught. Rising to his feet, he mumbled, "So… um… we take this slow?"

"I… don't know?" she mumbled. "But… I don't think we should rush into anything. I like you, Adrien, I really do, but this is also… kind of weird."

"That would be prudent," Deedee said with a sage nod. "Change is often hard and it will take a while before you are comfortable with the revelations you learnt today. Take it slow, you don't want to rush into anything."

"No," Tikki whined, playfully batting at Deedee. "Don't you therap-bee them! I want to see them kiss!"

"Tikki!" Marinette scolded while Adrien nervously laughed in embarrassment.

"What?"

"For the record," Adrien said and rubbed the back of his neck. "I would like to, but I think Deedee's right."

"Aww," Tikki moaned. "Deedee! You ruined it!"

"I did not!"

Ignoring the complaints of their kwami, Marinette gulped. Life was really, really unfair. He wasn't allowed to look that gorgeous as he said he wanted to kiss her. Or make her knees that weak from just thinking about it. It took a lot of work, but she kept her voice level. "For the record, so would I. Eventually."

Adrien smiled and held out his hand. "Slow and steady?"

"Kitten steps," she said, placing her hand in his.

She expected a handshake, but he surprised her by bowing to kiss the back of her hand. With his lips hovering over her hand, he looked up at her. "I assure you, my lady, kittens can move very fast when they want to."

How was she still standing? "That's cheating."

"Absolutely." Keeping her hand, he straightened out of his bow. "So, what were you going to do with the fuzz?"

"Well, Bumblebee is fluffy, his doll needed to reflect that." She bent down and scooped up the yellow fuzz from the floor. It wasn't too bad, now she looked at it. She could probably clean it up. "I can show you. If you want."

He smiled. "I'd like that."

They sat, heads close together and kwami curled up and watching, and Marinette taught Adrien how to make his doll. She taught him how to make his stitches even and how to stuff the doll so it wouldn't be lumpy. Gentle fingers guided him through threading a needle and firmer hands taught him invisible stitching. She watched his pink tongue stick out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on glueing the goggles in place and imagined what it would be like to taste it. She couldn't help the blush which coloured her cheeks every time their hands touched, or the tingles creeping down her spine, or the dorky smile on her face, but at least she didn't stumble over her words anymore.

By his smile, he knew exactly what he did to her because she did the same to him. That was as gratifying as it was nerve-wracking. Their hands touched, brushed and lingered way more than was necessary, but neither of them minded.

They didn't get to finish the doll before their break for lunch ended but neither of them cared about that either.

"May I come back tonight?" Bumblebee asked as he trotted up the stairs to exit through the trap door.

"You were going to watch one of the Transformers movies with me, weren't you?" Marinette asked, following him up.

He flashed her a smile. "Can I really? You won't mind?"

"Absolutely," she replied. "I'm counting on it."

"Then I'll definitely come back." He grinned and ran his hand down her arm until he reached her hand, giving it a squeeze. "May I take you to lunch tomorrow? I think Nino and Alya have the right idea."

She beamed at him. "I'd like that."

He lifted his arms and gripped the wooden frame of the trap door and pulled himself out. Outside, he crouched down to look down at her. "See you back at school soon."

After he closed the trap door, Marinette quietly counted to ten before she covered her mouth and squealed. She ran on the spot, then folded back to flop on her bed. "Oh my gosh!"

"I'm so excited for you, Marinette!" Tikki said, darting to her.

She felt limp. "Did that really happen?"

Floating above Marinette, Tikki covered her mouth with her paws and giggled. "Oh, yes."

Cloud nine had nothing on Marinette as she floated back to school.

Nino and Alya held hands as they waited on the stairs of the school, their body language completely focussed on each other. Nino laughed, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he responded to whatever joke Alya had told. Marinette watched as Alya gripped Nino at the elbow and pressed her chest against his upper arm, rising up on her toes so she could whisper in his ear.

"Oh, they are going to be so grossly adorable," she told Tikki as she walked. She felt so excited for her friends and they deserved happiness. Seeing them together made Marinette feel so much lighter than she was already.

"Like you and Adrien," Tikki responded, sounding smug.

"We're not going to be—" the words died in her throat as Adrien's car pulled up to the school.

"You were saying?" Tikki said, and the smugness increased.

"Urk."

Giggling, Tikki closed Marinette's bag around her. "Hopeless."

Marinette stalled, standing still as Adrien hopped from the car. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder as he looked up the stairs at Alya and Nino, smiled and waved at them.

They hadn't discussed what they were going to tell their friends. She wasn't even sure if they were a 'they' yet. He might've expressed a desire to kiss her, but that didn't mean—

Turning his head, Adrien caught Marinette's gaze and broke out into a massive grin. Her heart picked up its pace, racing away with all the strength in her legs it could.

"Must not swoon, must not swoon," she mumbled to herself.

Her bag giggled again and Marinette pressed her hand to it.

Gesturing for Marinette to join them, Adrien trotted up the stairs to join Alya and Nino, offering up his fist to Nino for a bump. Alya turned and waved at Marinette without releasing Nino's hand.

Marinette smiled and moved to her friends. "Seems the lunch went well," she noted.

Adrien grinned, standing closer to Marinette than he would have before. So close his shoulder brushed hers. "It does, doesn't it? Spill."

"Nothing happened, dude," Nino protested.

"Yeah, we had a nice lunch, that's all," Alya said, unable to stop the smile.

As one, Adrien and Marinette dropped their eyes to Alya and Nino's interwoven fingers. "I don't know about you," Adrien said to Marinette. "But that looks like something happened."

"Definitely something. Must be an akuma," Marinette said and pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. "Some dastardly akuma out for revenge attacked the café where you were having lunch and forced this hand-holding atrocity on you."

Getting right into the game, Adrien rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Must be." Throwing up his arm, he wrapped it round Nino's shoulder. "Oh, my poor Nino, eternally bound with Alya. Woe is you, I hope Ladybug shows up soon to aid you. Be strong!"

"It's not an akuma," Alya deadpanned.

"Did Nino's wristband get stuck around your wrist?" Marinette asked. "I have a pair of scissors in my bag."

"No."

"Nino had an accident with the superglue again?" Adrien asked.

"Dude!" Nino blurted, scandalised.

"Again?" Alya asked and smirked. "That sounds like a story."

Adrien grinned. "Yeah, see—"

Releasing Alya's hand, Nino took Adrien by the shoulders and shoved him toward the entrance of the school. "Gotta go! We'll be late for class."

Adrien shot Marinette a smile while allowing Nino to manhandle him away.

Reaching for Alya's elbow, Marinette said, "Regardless of the teasing, I'm happy for you."

Alya beamed. "Me too. And don't worry, Nino and I will make sure we return the favour when you two figure yourselves out."

TTT

It hadn't taken Marinette long to clean up and re-store her fabrics after returning home from school, before settling into her study for exams.

Somehow, Adrien and Marinette managed to make it through the rest of day without anyone commenting on the silly grins they both developed whenever they looked at each other. Alya and Nino's budding and obvious relationship eclipsed any oddity their classmates might have noticed about Adrien and Marinette's actions.

She tried concentrating on her study, but the lack of sleep and the heightened emotions of the day had taken their toll on her. She wasn't really able to think straight or concentrate for long periods of time, so she wandered down to challenge Tom to a few games of Mecha Strike to help keep her awake.

She helped Sabine cook dinner, chopping up vegetables while her mother hummed as she cooked. Afterward, Marinette washed the dishes while Tom and Sabine snuggled together on the sofa and watched one of their shows together. Anything to pass the time, and it sure felt like it was travelling slowly today.

She was anxious and nervous and watching the clock but she didn't think her parents noticed. As Tom went to bed, Marinette also bid her mother goodnight and headed back up to her room to see if she could manage to concentrate on something other than Adrien for more than a few minutes at a time.

It seemed he was just as excited about spending time with her as she was. Within minutes, there was a soft knock at her trapdoor.

"Sorry," he babbled as he dropped through the trapdoor and onto the bed. "I couldn't wait and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to come as myself, but I don't think my father would've let me so I would've had to sneak away anyway and then I wasn't sure if I was supposed to ring the doorbell or wait here and—"

Marinette giggled and sat on her bed. "It's fine. I was excited too. Mom's still downstairs, but I told her I was going to watch a movie before bed."

He calmed down a fraction to sit beside her and say, "Hi."

Marinette beamed. "Hi."

"Oh. Um. Should I power down?"

Marinette nodded. "But we... we should stay up here for a little while. Mom can't see the bed from the door and we'll have a little bit of warning if she's coming."

"Fuzz off," he responded, then Deedee zipped around him. He extended a hand and Deedee brushed against it for a second before darting over to nuzzle Marinette's cheek.

Giggling, Marinette cupped her hands around Deedee. "Hi Deedee."

"Deedee!" Tikki called from downstairs where Marinette had set her up with a plate of cookies. "Marinette got us sweeties!"

Deedee waggled happily. "Oh!"

"There're gummy bears too," Marinette called as Deedee darted away.

Adrien ran a hand through his hair and gave her a sheepish look. "We've only just started and I'm already sneaking into your room without your parents knowing."

Marinette shrugged. "Well… I'm not supposed to have anyone over after they go to bed, but that's a school night rule. Weekends are different as long as I'm sensible."

Adrien swallowed. "Even for a boyfriend?"

Boyfriend. Oh, that made her chest tight and her heart pound. "Is that— I mean—are we… I… I thought—" Words, Marinette, get them out. "I thought we were taking things slow."

His bottom lip jutted out and he gave her sad eyes. "Does that mean I can't hold your hand?"

She jolted. "Oh. Do… do you want to?"

In answer, he reached for her hand, allowing his to hover over the top of hers and held still, waiting. He left the choice to hold his hand to her. The choice whether or not to take that step with him. He wouldn't push or demand.

With a smile, Marinette spread her fingers and lifted her palm to meet his.