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Day 19 - Eavesdropping

He stood at the edge of the roof, closing his eyes as he let out a deep breath. It had been such a long day, and that photoshoot had really worn him out. All day photoshoots usually did, but this one seemed worse than usual. The photographer wasn't happy with anything that came out, and kept resetting and adding things before finally going back to how it was during the first round of photos.

He sighed heavily. An all day shoot that could have been done in a few hours. He could have gone to school for the afternoon, and at least spent SOME time with his friends. It seemed like lately he hadn't been able to see almost anyone with how busy he had been.

It usually got this way around this time of year though. Fashion was going full speed ahead with summer coming up.

His ears perked up at the thought. Fashion. Marinette. He beamed and took off towards her balcony. He may not be able to visit all of his friends, but he had visited Marinette a few times as Chat Noir. It was Friday night too, she was sure to still be up working on some new design. Maybe he could even help her somehow.

He landed lightly on her balcony and heard multiple voices coming from inside. He went completely still, seeing her skylight cracked open. He stayed hidden in the deep shadows under her awning, listening closer.

Alix, Rose, Juleka, Mylene, and Alya were all here. Oh, the girls must be having a sleepover. He thought bitterly. He would have known that if he'd been at school today. He was sure he would have overheard them talking about it.

So much for that plan. Maybe I can come see her tomorrow.

He felt his tail droop as he moved to leave, but his foot stopped in its tracks, "You can't let yourself get this down just because Adrien missed school today." Alya said heavily.

He felt his heart jump. Marinette had missed him? It had only been a day! But he understood instantly, he was here because he missed his friends, and it had only been a day. It was silly but it made him smile that Marinette cared enough to notice he was gone, and miss him.

"That's right! You just have to stay positive Marinette!" Rose quipped in that cheerful way she had. "He isn't going to forget you just by missing one day of school."

"Yeah, and knowing Adrien, he is probably just as down about missing today too. Nino said that the photoshoot had run longer than expected because the photographer was being an idiot." Alya was explaining.

She didn't know the half of it.

"Oh! Maybe you can do something for him on Monday, to cheer him up. I'm sure he's had a long day if that's the case, and it's the perfect way for you to show him that you were thinking about him." Mylene suggested.

Marinette's voice sounded tired, "But guys what's the point? Don't you remember the last time?"

There was a collective heavy sigh and he bit his lower lip. He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't find it in himself to leave. Their voices were keeping him grounded. He was both too afraid to move in case he drew their attention, and too curious about what they were talking about to leave.

He made a promise to himself, that if they started talking about things he shouldn't have been hearing, he'd leave even at the risk of his life. Alya would no doubt strangle him if she found him up here, and Alix would be right there with her. There would be questions he definitely didn't want them to ask, or that he'd be able to answer without giving himself away.

Juleka's soft voice drew his attention back to them, "There have been a lot of failed attempts lately."

"See!" Marinette whined. "I'm so useless. Even if the perfect opportunity presented itself, I'd just go and ruin it all with my clumsiness… as usual."

"Oh come on it can't be that bad." Mylene told her.

"The scarf was a failed attempt." Alix said evenly, sounding like she's chewing on something. "He loves that scarf, and dummy thinks it's from his father."

Marinette's voice was stern, "It makes him happier thinking it's from his father. That's all I care about."

His heart twinges in hurt. The scarf hadn't come from his father the way Nathalie had led him to believe. It had come from Marinette, and from the sound of it, she had no intention of telling him the truth… because she thought that HE was happier thinking it came from his father.

Alya said it heavily, "And let's not forget the unsigned Valentine fiasco." Her voice turned teasing, "Your hair shines like the sun. Your eyes are gorgeous green,"

"Alya give it back! Where'd you even find a copy of it!" Marinette yelped in panic as Alya kept reading the lines of the Valentine he himself had memorized, "I look at you and wonder, your innermost thoughts and dreams. Yes, your Valentine I will be. Our love will be so true. Together for eternity. My heart belongs to you."

There was a fit of giggles inside as his face flamed. The valentines day card that had answered his so perfectly… it had come from Marinette too. Could she… could she, like him?

As their giggles died down, Rose added it like she was almost afraid to, "Then there was the beret she knitted, with the hearts for his fifth's names day."

"Operation Secret Garden didn't go so well either." Juleka reminded them, receiving another collective sigh from all the girls.

He frowned at that one, not understanding. Operation Secret Garden? Now he was even more curious.

"You can't keep your feelings for Adrien bottled up Marinette. Yes all of these things haven't gone exactly as planned, but you did them and keep doing them because you care about him. Right?" Mylene asked calmly.

"Of course I care about him, more than anything, but you guys I'm a stuttering mess around him most of the time. Last week he even thought that I DIDN'T like him! He probably thinks I'm a huge nutcase, and he is so sweet and kind and amazing and, he deserves someone better than me." He heard her sniffling and his heart fell to his stomach. He made his way carefully to where her skylight was and peeked in, seeing the girls huddled around Marinette on the floor as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Besides, I'm probably too late anyways. He asked me for advice in order to take Kagami to the ice rink, remember? She was right that day. I'll never get him to notice me because all I do is hesitate, and she never hesitates." Marinette was telling them. "My feelings for him are the farthest thing from his mind."

He watched as the girls all exchanged small glances in silence. Alya was rubbing Marinette's back, some sort of silent communication going on between them as Rose shook her head, Juleka frowned suddenly, and Alix and Mylene shared a look before they both shrugged sadly.

Alya asked Marinette softly, "Marinette, you've never been one to give up. Where is all of this coming from? Why would you think that Adrien would think you didn't like him?"

Rose handed Marinette a black cat plush that had green eyes and a silver collar with a gold bell. She hugged the plush to her chest and told them, "Last week, when we all went to the wax museum, he told me. I don't know why he thought that, but he did. Then…" she trailed off, and he leaned back on the wall near the skylight, closing his eyes as the guilt ripped through him.

She was no doubt thinking back to the same moment he was, where he had stupidly posed as a statue to try and prank her.

"Then?" Alix asked in a much softer voice than she usually used. Almost like she was afraid she'd startle Marinette by speaking too loud.

"I thought they had moved his statue since they were working on it, and no one was around so I thought I'd try to tell the statue how I felt. If I could do that, then maybe I could tell him too and it wouldn't be as hard the second time." Her voice broke and she said it nearly sobbing, "I told him everything and it was really him, trying to pull a prank on me. I nearly kissed him before he broke and showed me he wasn't the statue. I was so embarrassed I thought I was going to die!"

He hit his head back against the wall once, hearing how much it had hurt her. He was such an idiot. He had been trying to give up on Ladybug for weeks, knowing the boy in her heart hadn't left room for him. He WAS trying to move on. That's the only reason he had asked Kagami to the ice rink. He did like Kagami, but he had never felt that spark of something more with her.

It hit him like a train.

No wonder Kagami had asked him about his feelings for Marinette.

"You should have seen the relief on his face when I played it off as being a joke too. I lied and told him I didn't mean any of it, that I knew he was trying to trick me and he believed it! He didn't WANT it to be true." She started sniffling again and he peered in the window, seeing her staring down at her hands, "To make things worse, we apologized to each other again in the car and he has to go and tell me that the girl he loves doesn't like his jokes either."

"Did he really say that?" Alya asked, surprised.

Marinetted nodded and the girls are trying their hardest to cheer her up, all the while his heart was breaking. Here was this kind and caring, talented and beautiful girl right in front of him who cared more about him than any other girl he'd ever met, and he had been so stuck on trying to get Ladybug's attention that he never realized Marinette's feelings for what they were.

Hearing all the things she had done for him, including the extra pieces that the girls were adding onto the list now in their efforts to cheer her up, all to make HIM happy even though he'd done nothing but hurt her over and over again…

It was going to stop.

Tonight.

He wasn't going to let her go through this kind of pain because of him, not anymore. He felt a fire inside him, waking him up in a way he'd never felt before. It burned as it raged, screaming loudly as it moved through him.

YOU ALREADY LOVE THIS GIRL YOU IDIOT NOW DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

He knew what he had to do.

He ducked behind her chimney, dropping his transformation. Plagg was scowling at him, asking quietly, "What are you doing? What if someone sees you?"

He held out a piece of camembert and explained quickly, "Shush. No one is going to see me, but I need my phone."

Plagg munched on his camembert, a satisfied smirk on his face as his chosen started typing away on his phone.

'Hey Marinette, I'm sorry to bother you, are you still up?'

He hit send and nodded once, listening as his heart raced in anticipation. A piercing scream inside her room caused him to jump a minute later, nearly causing him to slip. Plagg cackled out loud, covering his mouth before he could give them away.

He felt the sweat form on the back of his neck as he put his hand over his rapidly beating heart. Had he done something wrong by texting her?

"Marinette what happened!" Alya yelled. He guessed that shriek had come from Marinette.

Her voice was shaking, "A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A"

"Spit it out Marinette!" Alix barked.

"ADRIEN TEXTING PHONE, MY PHONE! HE'S TEXTING ME! WHY IS HE TEXTING ME?!" Marinette was still in a panic as Rose told her excitedly, "What did he say!?"

"Girl you didn't even open it!" Alya noted, going quiet for a second before telling them, "He just wants to know if you are awake. Text him back!"

"I can't do that Alya!" Marinette tried, but the girls weren't letting her get out of it. It only took a few minutes of convincing her that the world was NOT in fact going to end if she responded to his text.

It made him chuckle slightly, listening to her rant. Her imagined scenarios went from wild to crazy in two seconds flat, and were all extremely unlikely to happen. For one, he wasn't going to have her thrown in jail for making him miss an appointment by keeping him up late texting.

His phone pinged and he smiled brighter seeing her text back, 'I'm still up, and you could never bother me. What's up?'

'Nothing much really. I was thinking about you today at the photoshoot. They brought macarons to the set since it ran long, but they were nowhere near as good as yours. ;) '

There was an eruption of excited squeals inside and his cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much.

"Marinette breathe!" Alya told her suddenly, "You can't go passing out on us, not while you are in the middle of texting Sunshine!"

"He was thinking about me Alya." Marinette said dreamily. "Answer back!" Rose told her excitedly.

"How do I even respond to that!?" Marinette asked, now suddenly worried.

He heard the suggestions and chuckled, seeing Plagg shaking his head, "Girls."

'I'll have to make you some then! Everyone at school missed you today. It wasn't the same without you. I copied extra notes for you too, in case you need them. :) '

His response was instant, 'You are the best Marinette. That's why you are our everyday Ladybug.' He hit send and kicked himself, sending another text straight after. He refused to let the conversation stray from what he was trying to do, 'It wasn't just today. I've actually been thinking about you a lot lately.'

"HOLY CROW!" Alix said laughing, "That boy has major flirting going on! Go Agreste!" The girls are in a full fit of excitement, giggling, laughing, and overlapping jumbled voices of joy flitted out to him. Alya mentioned something about ships finally sailing.

"No Alix it can't be like that. Something has to be wrong." Marinette told her. It only took a few seconds for her response to come through, 'Is everything okay? Did something happen?'

He looked up at Plagg, "Why do you think, she thinks, something is wrong?"

Plagg shrugged, "One thing you learn being alive as long as I have, never try to understand women. The moment you think you understand, you've already lost. That's why I've been trying to tell you to find a good cheese and,"

"Yeah yeah, nevermind." Adrien waved him off before texting back, 'No, everything is fine. I promise. I just…' he hit send, trying to think of the best way to say this, 'Have you ever been nervous about doing something before?'

Alix snorted loud enough that Adrien could hear it. Mylene told her to hush as Alya sighed heavily, "That Sunshine child I swear."

Juleka's voice was so soft he barely caught it, "Does he really not notice your nervousness all the time?"

Marinette didn't say anything, but another text came through in true Marinette fashion, 'More times than I can count. Is there something I can do to help? What could you possibly have to be nervous about? You're Adrien Agreste!'

'Well, there's this girl I've had a crush on for a while. She's a great friend, but I don't know how to ask her out. What should I do?'

He waited, his finger idly tapping the side of his phone, and heard Alix's angry threat, "I'm going to pummel that little model into a pancake!"

"No he did not just ask you that." Alya said hard, "Where's my phone so I can text Nino about what an idiot his best friend is."

"Girls, girls! It's okay. I told you before, I knew I was too late. If he wants my advice, if this will make him happy, then I'll be happy that he is." Marinette declared, and as he stood there leaning against the cool brick of her chimney, he fell in love with her a little more.

'Just be confident Adrien. You are sweet and smart, and handsome too of course. Any girl would be an idiot to not see how wonderful you are.'

'You really think so Marinette?'

'I do.'

"I can't believe you are doing this Marinette." Mylene said sadly.

"I want him to be happy, even if that means helping him ask Kagami out." Marinette told them, a sigh escaping into the air.

Rose pointed it out first, "He never said it was Kagami though."

That's because it's not Kagami, girls. - He thought with a sense of mischief.

"Who else could it be?" Alya asked bitterly.

'Then, would you?' He asked, shooting Plagg a smile which he returned, "Good going Kitten. I might actually be a bit proud of you right now."

"I'll take it." Adrien told him happily, hearing the girls' confusion below him.

"Would you what?" Rose asked.

'Would I what?' Marinette responded with Rose's question.

'Will you help me?'

'Anything for you.'

He pumped his fist into the air in triumph and called it, "Claws out." He let the transformation take hold before jumping from her rooftop into the alley just behind the bakery. He immediately let the transformation drop, Plagg glaring at him, "What a waste of time. You could have just jumped."

"Two stories Plagg? I wasn't trying to break my leg." Adrien told him curtly.

Plagg huffed, "You've been wearing my Miraculous for almost a year. You wouldn't have broken a leg. Maybe just twisted an ankle."

"Plagg!" Adrien hissed before the kwami ducked into his shirt. He pulled his phone back out of his pocket and video called her as he moved onto the sidewalk.

Her face came up, but none of the other girls were in view. He could tell she was straining to hold the smile in place, even as he smiled at her, "Hey, I thought it would be easier to talk face to face. I hope that's okay."

She nodded, "Of course. It's absolutely fine."

He was still smiling as she asked, trying not to sound like she was on the verge of tears, "What do you need me to do?"

"Are you in your room right now?" He asked, already knowing the answer as he made his way to the front of the bakery.

She nodded again, a slight frown on her face, "Yes why?"

"Stand up." He told her.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Why?"

"Please? A little trust here Marinette." He told her with a smirk. She looked at him questioningly but stood, "Okay, you have me up. Any other directions?"

"Go to your balcony, please."

He watched over the phone as she made her way up the ladder and onto her balcony. He could hear the girls whispering in the background about what was going on, and why he wanted her out there.

They'd figure it out soon enough.

"Okay Agreste you have me out here, now what?" She asked as she looked up at the stars, making him laugh.

"Look down."

She did and her eyes widened as she realized he was really there, "Adrien? What are you doing here!?" She asked as she leaned over the railing.

He hung up the phone and put it in his back pocket, practically beaming as he called out to her, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you go out with me!?"

The phone fell out of her hand, falling straight into the ground near his feet.

He definitely owed her a new one.

Thanks for reading! More is coming soon so don't fret!

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Au Revoir for now! Á demain!