Adrien couldn't help himself from staring, Nino and Nathaniel doing the same on either side of him.
They were supposed to be running laps, but how could they run laps with this going on?
Principal Damocles had introduced a new exercise for today. They were either to do Yoga or run laps, and most of the girls of the school had chosen Yoga.
Including Marinette, Alya and Tiana.
How was this supposed to keep them active? Most of the people who were supposed to be running laps were just staring at the girls as they did Yoga.
"Now, we're going to shift into the Extended Puppy pose, students." The yoga instructor said calmly before demonstrating the position to those on the yoga mats in front of her.
"Is this really only a once a month thing, because I think I want it more than once." Nino whispered to him as all the girls knelt down and bowed down to the floor, arms flat against their mats.
Alya turned around and glared at him suddenly, Nino yelping before taking off running laps again.
Chuckling, he just continued watching with Nathaniel. Particularly, he never knew that Marinette was so flexible. He hasn't actually seen her do any athletic groups or anything since she tried to join Fencing almost three years ago.
"Now raise into the classic Downward Facing Dog." The instructor's soothing voice said before all listening followed her lead.
A collective gasp came from those of them watching from the side lines, being shushed by the instructor who wasn't actually looking to make sure they weren't staring.
When did Marinette get so flexible?
"How much longer is this?" Nathaniel asked from beside him, following his gaze to Tiana who was posed beside Alya.
"Another fifteen minutes." Adrien answered as he watched how relaxed Tiana was while doing as the instructor told. His eyes drifted down to the yoga pants that hugged her legs, looking back to Marinette as he mentally kicked himself.
He hasn't even talked to her since Tuesday and he's staring at her legs again. What's wrong with him? He needs to remember to try to talk to her though, but she might be annoyed with him because of hurting Marinette since she's been whispering with her a lot.
Those were the times when he wished he had Chat's hearing so he could figure out if Mari was going to speak to him again.
"And we'll finish with Upwards Facing Dog, students." The instructor concluded by angling her upper body up in the air.
The girls followed her instructions and Adrien looked to Nathaniel again, this time realizing he wasn't staring just at Tiana but at Marinette too.
Since he hasn't talked to Tiana, he never found out how their talk went. It felt a little weird now knowing that Nathaniel feelings for both Tiana and Marinette when Mari had a crush on him instead.
"So how are you and Tiana?" Adrien asked, Nathaniel looking to him with the faintest blush before starting to walk again.
Following him, he kept pace as they continued their laps. "We're fine. We're...talking about it at least." Nathaniel explained as he glanced to the girls again to see them all beginning to get up from the yoga mats.
"See, things turned out fine. How's she feeling about it?" Adrien asked as they continued running.
"She's giving me time to work out how I'm feeling. It's easier now knowing that she knows and I don't have to hide it anymore." Nathaniel said before Mr. Damocles announced to them that they could stop running. Where was he the entire time no one was running and instead was staring at the girls doing yoga?
"See you next month." The instructor said as she stayed knelt on her mat.
Nino caught back up with him and Nathaniel just in time for Alya to walk over and swat him on the shoulder. "Why?" Nino asked as he covered his snickering behind his hand.
"Want it to be more than once a month? Why's that Nino?" Alya asked as she propped her hands on her hips, glaring down her boyfriend and his best friend.
"Well I could watch you stretching." Nino replied with a sly smile, laughing and running off when Alya began charging at him.
Adrien looked away from the couple in time for his eyes to meet blue, smiling at her as this is the closest she's gotten to him besides being in class since he dropped her off at her house Tuesday. "Did you two have fun staring?" Adrien broke his gaze with Marinette to look at Tiana beside her, not having noticed she was there.
"What are you talking about?" Adrien tried to play dumb, but Tiana just smirked at him before leaning an arm on Marinette's shoulder.
"We could see behind us when we were doing the Downward Dog pose, you know. Which girls were you staring at?" Tiana asked, Nathaniel sputtering beside him as he felt his own face warm with a tell tale embarrassed blush.
"What makes you think we were staring at you girls? Maybe we were just interested in the yoga." Adrien knew it was pointless to try to convince her they weren't staring, but he couldn't help but banter with her.
Both Marinette and Tiana laughed at him this time, unable to hold back a smile as he was just happy he was able to make her laugh after hurting her.
"Okay, if that's the case then you guys can join us next month with yoga." Marinette said through her laughter, Tiana suddenly cutting short her laughter with a devious smile that for some reason felt familiar to him.
"I got a better idea, Marinette. If the boys want to do yoga so bad, we can all do it at my place. Grandfather wouldn't mind having an instructor come do a class for us." Tiana offered, Adrien just staring at her for her blatant desire to torture the three of them by doing yoga with them.
"Ooh, I like that idea." Marinette agreed with her as Adrien wondered if this torture had anything to do with them being upset with him for hurting Marinette.
"Are we going to go get lunch still?" Adrien's eyes locked with Marinette's when Alya interrupted their scheming with her question, smiling softly at her. She only blushed a little and looked away, his shoulders slumping as he wished he could fix what he's done.
He didn't mean to hurt her, he never wanted to hurt her! But shouldn't it have been better that he told her the truth instead of lying and possibly leading her on?
"Yeah, we're coming. You two coming with us?" Marinette asked, instead of looking him in the eye looking to Nathaniel for a confirmation for the both of them.
Suddenly, he wasn't very interested in the idea of going to lunch with all of them.
"I'm just going to hang back, you guys go ahead and have fun." Adrien offered before excusing himself. If he's lucky, Chloe might still be here and want to go get lunch. She's fortunately already forgiven him for not believing her about Marinette having a crush on him.
How long would it take Mari to forgive him then? He missed having her at least treat him as her friend, instead of being so hurt she can't even look at him for more than a few seconds.
"And now." Chat threw the popcorn in the air, catching it between his teeth with a triumphant laugh before looking to see Rogue had done just the same, grinning triumphantly at him.
"Bet you can't catch more than one." Rogue challenged him, grinning at her before grabbing the bag from between them.
"You're going to lose that bet, wolf." Chat countered with a smirk before launching three pieces of popcorn in the air this time.
He managed to catch two of them, but the third bounced off his nose and fell away to the ground.
Rogue laughed loudly beside him, grabbing three pieces from the bag. "Let me show you how it's done, kitty cat." Rogue teased him before throwing the pieces in the air. Just like him, she caught the first two only for the third to bounce off her nose.
With his cat like reflexes he caught it and threw it into his mouth, smirking at her. "Guess we're equally bad at catching three." Chat teased her right back, sticking his tongue out at her when she blew raspberries at him.
This was the high point of his day so far. Sadly. It wasn't fair that he had to transform just to feel accepted right now.
With Marinette not talking to him unless it was initiated by Tiana, and Tiana not talking to him because she's too busy with Nathaniel, he's starting to feel like he's just a bad kitty on timeout.
Or like he's not wanted around right now, which hurts even more to think about as being around his friends is one of the few things that help him forget about the pain in his chest for Ladybug. That helps him feel like he's a normal teen for once since his life is anything but normal.
"Kitten, you're moping again." Chat looked to his side to see Rogue balling up the empty bag that had held the popcorn, scooting closer to him before throwing the bag somewhere behind them.
"Well I'm sorry, I can't help it at times." Chat hadn't meant to be sassy, but it just came out with his frustration over his life right now.
His frustration melted a little when he felt that familiar pressure on his shoulder, leaning closer to her warmth as well. If someone had told him a month ago that he would be meeting up with Rogue Wolf atop the Eiffel Tower just to hang out and not try to stop her from stealing, he would have laughed at them for the hilarious joke.
But now, this was the third night in a row. He should be looking for that ring, especially considering that bet he had with Tiana over finding it before Friday. Which was tomorrow.
"Want to talk about it?" Rogue asked him quietly, looking to her to see her eyes on his staff that he hadn't realized she had taken from his back again.
"No." Chat answered her honestly, taking his staff back and putting it back on the small of his back.
He really didn't want to, he really just wanted to forget for the moment and enjoy the now.
"Kitten-"
"I really don't want to Rogue. I just want to forget about it for the moment." Chat cut her off before she could try to convince him to tell her. As far as she knew, this was only about Ladybug. He wasn't going to let her know it was about more than Ladybug now.
"Well that's kind of going to be hard to do if she finds us up here." Rogue commented, Chat looking at her in confusion before pulling his staff back out. Opening it, he saw that his lady was in fact active right now, clear on the other side of the city where he should be searching for the ring.
Merde, she would see that he's active as well if she hadn't noticed already. Which meant she would be heading their way soon, and he couldn't let her catch him with Rogue.
"I should get back to searching then, before she comes this way and sees you." Chat said, stretching backwards where he sat and hearing his joints pop before standing up.
"Aw, you still haven't found my ring?" Rogue teased him as she too stood up. "Well, I can't promise that I won't get it first. Even if you and I keep coming across one another up here, I still have a job to do." Rogue reminded with a smirk, Chat chuckling at her as he wouldn't expect any less.
They weren't friends and they weren't technically enemies, but they still each had their own jobs to stick to.
Chat opened his mouth to speak when Rogue reached forward and patted him on the rib cage, winking at him before running and leaping off the platform. With a howl, she was gone into the night.
Chat stood there for a moment longer to just enjoy feeling like he was a normal guy who was actually wanted around before vaulting from the tower as well, making his way in the direction of Ladybug before she could come find him first.
It took him maybe five minutes to find her, Ladybug sitting on the edge of a roof while fiddling with her Yo-yo. "Bonsoir, my lady." Chat greeted before touching down on the roof, Ladybug looking over to him in surprise.
"Chat? I thought you were fighting the wolf. I saw you were active and heard her howl." Ladybug revealed, Chat silently wishing Rogue would have stayed silent since she knew Ladybug was out tonight.
"I didn't encounter her, but I heard the howl too." Chat revealed before walking over and taking a seat beside her on the edge of the roof. "Are you searching for the ring, bugaboo?" Chat asked as she snapped her yo-yo shut.
"I'm not finding it anywhere. For all we know, it could have already been flushed out of the sewers by now and we'll never find it." Ladybug advised rather negatively, Chat not used to hearing her be negative as she was a beacon of positive energy.
"I'll continue searching, my lady. Don't ruin your nose with the smells of those rivers, I can handle it." Chat assured as he unzipped his pocket to pull out the vapo rub he now remembered to grab every time before going out until the ring was found.
Slipping his fingers into his pocket though, his claw clicked against more than just the tube of vapo rub, furrowing his eyebrows. What was this?
Pulling out the extra object from his pocket, his eyes widened as he opened his hand to spy the gold ring that they had been searching for. How?!
"You found it?" Chat snapped his eyes to the side to see Ladybug looking at him with amazement, eyes changing between his own and his hand that held the elusive ring.
How did that get there, he hadn't seen it since last Friday!
"I...I guess I did." Chat muttered as he held the little ring between his thumb and forefinger, making sure that it was real and he wasn't hallucinating. Ladybug saw it too though...
"How? I thought it was gone." Ladybug said before suddenly grinning and standing up. "You kept it from her sticky paws, Chat!" Ladybug said excitedly as he too stood up.
He was seconds from admitting he didn't know how it even got in his pocket and that he hadn't actually looked for it in almost two days, but Ladybug threw her arms around his neck and ceased all his thoughts.
Ladybug was hugging him? After what she said to him Saturday, she was hugging him?
Chat wrapped his arms around her lower back as she laughed into his shoulder, not wanting to let her go for fear that he'd never get to do this again.
His heart was hammering so rapidly against his rib cage he knew she could probably feel it too, but she didn't pull away. Does this mean she trusts him again, that she doesn't think he's going to betray her for Rogue?
"We need to get this back to Raincomprix." Ladybug pulled away from him all too soon with the news that they needed to return the jewelry to the authorities. "I'm so proud of you, Chat. You put up with going all over the city, even down into the sewers, just to find this." Ladybug said with a grin still gracing her lips. Her bluebell eyes were sparking with pride and happiness for him, unable to help himself from smiling right back.
The pain in his chest felt like it had lifted a little just at knowing she was proud of him and not suspicious of him anymore. Maybe now she'll believe him easier when he says he's hers alone.
"I still can't believe you."
Tiana ignored Verro as she took a long drink from her tea, stretched out on her couch to enjoy the night breeze coming in from the balcony.
"It's not fun if there isn't a challenge, Verro. I'll just take it back again in a few days, no big deal. This way, Little Red and Chat Noir won't be at each others throats and it'll be more fun." Tiana reminded her grumpy Kwami who was none too pleased that the ring was in their hands once more.
"Yeah? How do you think he's going to react to that just mysteriously showing up in his pocket? You think he won't put two and two together that you had so happened to pat him on the ribs before taking off and it just shows up there later?" Verro asked as he lounged on the couch beside her, finishing off his dinner.
"I think he'll be too otherwise preoccupied with the fact that Ladybug no longer has any distrust in him. He's so madly in love with her that the world fades to nothingness when she is in his sights." Tiana advised before rolling over onto her stomach, letting the night breeze ghost over her skin.
Verro grumbled something beside her before going quiet, Tiana about to sit up and question him on why he's now finally giving up his lecturing when something rapping against the balcony door caught her ear.
Turning her gaze to the curtains, she saw the silhouette of the man they had been talking about through the fabric.
"Entrez, Chat Noir." Tiana answered to the knocking on her door, Chat peeking through for a second before coming in.
"I thought we talked about the open balcony doors, ma belle." Chat said as he stood in her room once more, Tiana already knowing that after he leaves the night will be filled with Verro's lecturing about her identity and not associating with the heroes when she's in civilian form.
"It's a nice night, I'm just enjoying the breeze." Tiana replied as she sat up fully on her couch. "What brings you here so late though, you just enjoy sneaking into the bedrooms of girls in the middle of the night?" Tiana asked teasingly, Chat turning a light pink before walking closer to her.
"No, but I was passing by and saw your light still on. I thought I'd let you know that I won our little wager." Chat revealed as he stopped in front of the couch. He looked up to her as if requesting to sit, so she patted the plush cushion to invite him.
"Really? Just a day before it was about to end?" Tiana asked as the kitty cat took a seat beside her, just then realizing how he looked like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Perhaps little red had decided to stop treating him unfairly now that the ring was once more in her possession.
She would enjoy taking it back just for the satisfaction of karma against the bug's unjust treatment of one who was supposed to be her partner.
"I did, which means you have to stop putting yourself in danger." Chat reminded, Tiana rolling her eyes as she pulled her legs up against her on the couch.
"I haven't been going out at night recently, Knight in Kitty Armour. I'm too busy with other things to go exploring." Tiana said while knowing it wasn't entirely true nor was it a lie. She as Tiana wasn't going out, but Rogue Wolf was. She was too busy as Rogue Wolf to go out as Tiana.
Plus, tomorrows reveal from Mother about this years performance has also kept her busy during the day time. As well as Nathaniel and then Marinette who was still heartbroken about Adrien.
She still needed to talk to him, but every time she tried Marinette would snatch her away with Alya or Nathaniel would distract her. She could only hope he didn't think she was siding with Marinette just because she was hurt, she knew that Adrien didn't feel the same about her.
It was just one great big mess that would likely fix itself when Marinette was ready to talk to Adrien. But right now she's both too embarrassed about her crush being revealed and hurt that he doesn't feel the same to do anything about it.
"Ah, have you been kept busy by that boy then?" Chat Noir asked with a sly little smile as he looked down at her.
"Him and my friend who's a little down on her luck right now. She just needs some friends to distract her right now so she doesn't have to think about the fact that the boy she likes doesn't return her feelings." Tiana explained, looking at him curiously when he looked away with a pained expression. Was he thinking about his similar situation with Ladybug?
Chat was silent for a moment, and she felt the familiar desire to lean against him like she's been doing as Rogue. Yeah, she knew getting physically close to him was a bad idea. Be it if she were Rogue or Tiana, it was still a risk.
But she couldn't fight off the tug in her chest from how pained he looked.
"Chat?" Tiana said his name quietly, and he turned his bright green gaze back to her once more. "Are you alright?" Tiana asked with a tilt of her head, watching the way he sank a little deeper into her couch at the question.
"Honestly, not really." Chat answered her and she realized for the first time that night just how tired he looked, both physically and mentally if his eyes had anything to say about it.
When he was around her as Rogue, he could forget about his lady for a while. Why couldn't he do the same with her as Tiana? Was her current friendship dilemmas just a reminder of the problems he has of his own?
After another minute of silence and Chat Noir staring out her open balcony doors, she scooted over closer to him on the couch. "How can I help?" Tiana asked quietly, knowing she's already helped a little just by returning the ring to him. Albeit for a short amount of time.
"Stay out of danger." Chat replied without looking at her, almost like it was an automatic response and he wasn't really paying her any mind. "Also, make sure that friend of yours is alright. I can understand how much she must be hurting right now." Chat muttered the latter half of his sentence, Tiana frowning as it was something to do with his own lack of returned love by his bugaboo.
"She's alright, she'll be fine. She just needs a little time to get over the embarrassment and then she'll be back to her happy self once again." Tiana said as Chat looked at her at last, green eyes burning with an odd mix of emotion. "As for the staying out of danger thing, I'll agree on one condition." Tiana said, Chat staring back at her this time with astonishment.
"I won the wager though, you have to." Chat argued with her, sitting up a little more so he wasn't slouching on her couch as much.
"The condition," Tiana continued without acknowledging his winning of the bet. "You gotta stop letting what happened to you control you. It hurts, I get it. But only as long as you let it hurt you." Tiana said as she looked away from the kitty superhero beside her.
Chat was silent for a moment before she felt cold claws touch her arm, looking down at his claws that skittered over her forearm before he rested his surprisingly warm hand against her. "I'm sorry about your family, mon cher." Chat said in an obvious attempt of deflecting the attention off of his own issues.
"That's not what we're talking about, Chat Noir. If either of us understands the best how much it can hurt to want someone to love you that doesn't, its me. You can work through it and learn to let it go and move on. Just don't let it torment you in the mean time to the point that you look physically ill." Tiana explained to the hurting hero, watching as he pulled out his staff and used it as a mirror. Well, at least now he's aware of how tired he really looks.
Is this how Adrien feels about that mystery girl? Is he going through the same thing where he's just tormenting himself almost to the point of being sick? Tiana could only hope he'll talk with her and isn't offended she's been helping Marinette more.
A single beep from the man beside her let her know his ring was beginning to run out of energy. He sighed after looking at it as well. "I'll get back to you on if I can actually do as you ask, ma belle. But in the meanwhile, please stay safe." Chat said before standing from her couch.
He hardly made it towards the balcony doors when she jumped up to walk after him. "Hold on." Tiana said as he pulled back the curtains to make his departure.
Fighting back everything in her that told her she shouldn't do this, Tiana leaned up and wrapped her arms around the hero's neck. A laugh almost burst out when not even a second later he slid his own arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.
Well, at least now she knew that the kitty couldn't resist physical comfort.
"Thank you, Princess." Tiana didn't hesitate to swat him on the shoulder for the nickname, Chat chuckling slightly but not letting her go. She could actually feel the rumbling of his laughter in his chest as it pressed more firmly against her own.
His nose nudged against her neck and she suddenly felt much hotter than she had before, wondering why he was so warm when he was always out in the night.
"This helps, a lot." Chat's warm breath tickled the flesh of her neck and she suddenly wanted to shove him away and be done with the cat for the night. The man in front of her was technically no friend of hers, his partner wanted to put her behind bars.
So why was his close proximity such an allure to her?
With a duo of beeps this time from his hand, he pulled away at last. Bowing to her with a flair, he turned to leave at last.
As he walked out the curtains, she held them back to watch. Climbing up onto the railing of her balcony, he hesitated and looked back at her once more.
His green cat eyes seemed to glow in the dim moonlight as he looked back at her, such a mixture of emotion that she couldn't quiet read him in that moment. With a smile that showed his pearly white teeth, he vaulted off of the railing and away into the night. As silent as a real cat.
Once he was gone, she closed and locked her balcony doors behind her.
"Well that was weird." Tiana nearly smacked the Kwami into a wall, not having expected him to just show up on her shoulder right then. "What was with the whole staring thing before the cat took off?" Verro asked as she walked over to her desk to retrieve her phone.
"I don't know, Verro. He's probably just happy that someone will actually listen to him that isn't in costume." Tiana said before finding the contact for the boy who she couldn't help but worry if he was alright now.
Clicking on his contact that she changed to Lover Boy just to tease him, she looked at the time and decided to just text him instead. "Are you awake? I thought I'd check on you since we haven't had a chance to talk much in a few days." Hitting send, Tiana walked over to her bed.
"Why do you care so much about this? It's just normal teenager problems, it's not like it involves you." Verro reminded as he floated over to the pillow on her bed that she designated for him.
"Verro, we've only ever had one friend before moving here. I know it's still new even after a few months, but friends help each other out even if the problem has nothing to do with them." Tiana advised the little wolf as he yawned.
"Well have fun with that, I'm going to bed." Verro said as he circled around on his pillow for a moment before laying down.
Tiana rolled her eyes at the somewhat insensitive Kwami before feeling her phone vibrate where she placed it on her bed, plucking it up to see that Adrien was in fact still awake.
"You just decided to check on me at nearly midnight?" Tiana frowned at the dimly lit screen, wondering if he was in fact mad at her for not having checked on him when it's been two days since the incident between him and Marinette.
"Are you mad at me that I haven't asked you if you were alright since what happened between you and Mari?" Tiana was always one for just coming right out and asking the tough questions.
It took a few minutes, but finally he replied. "No, I'm not mad at you, Kitten." It was a short response, but she had to hope that since he used that god awful nickname that meant he really wasn't mad.
"Are you alright, though?" Tiana laid back in her pillows as Verro snored quietly from his pillow.
"Not really." Tiana could almost see him as tired as Chat looked with the similar response, guilt settling on her chest for not asking sooner to make sure he wasn't beating himself up for hurting his friend.
"Can I help in any way?" Tiana began to wonder if Adrien had fallen asleep when it took so long for a response to come back. It was around midnight, she's sure he has a rigid sleep schedule being that he's a model.
But his reply finally came after nearly ten minutes. "Just talk with me. Don't let me feel like I'm losing all my friends just because I hurt one." The guilt on her chest increased with that one message, feeling selfish for focusing on Mari and Nat and even Chat Noir when she's out as Rogue Wolf.
Hitting the green button beside his contact, it rang for a few seconds before he picked up. "You're not losing me, Lover Boy. You're stuck with me since you had to start calling me Kitten." Tiana said before he could even say hello.
It was silent for half a second before his soft laughter came back to her, feeling at least a smidgen of her guilt lift since she managed to make him laugh.
And we're back! I'm sorry I didn't post Friday, I did warn that I might not post though due to it having been my birthday. I didn't even have this written halfway at that point since my birthday ended up turning in to a two day celebration. I only really started writing this Saturday, so if there's any errors in the chapter let me know because I probably didn't catch them due to typing so quickly.
Poor Adrien/Chat. I know I'm probably going to get some people thinking Marinette's a bit out of Character this chapter, but I feel like after being called out on how you feel about someone and then told that they don't feel the same this kind of embarrassment would be understandable. But even if he is feeling alone, it's not really true. Tiana's always there for her friends, and Nino and Nat are there too.
Well, so long as they aren't distracted by Marinette. Eh, it's high school. Just typical high school romance drama. Makes me kind of miss it myself just for the entertainment.
Thank you all so much for your patience in letting me have my Birthday off to celebrate. Thanks also for reading as we've reached over 5500 views on this story on here so far. Every single view and reader is appreciated and makes me so happy. Also, on here I haven't gotten a request for the One-short idea yet, but I have on the QuoteV verson gotten one so I'm probably going with that idea at this point.
Thank all of you for reading and leaving comments and every little thing you do, I'm gonna go start on the next chapter. See you next time!