In which feelings are realised

"Are you ever going to tell me the real reason you lied about who you are and hid in a cupboard?" Nino asked.

Marinette jumped, almost dropping the skull she'd been dusting. "Will you stop creeping up on me?"

He was unrepentant and took the skull and duster from her. "Well?"

"Give me that."

She snatched the duster and moved to dust a shelf lined with books. A small spider had been dawdling across the shelf in search of a nice place to spin a web, and she shooed it off like a woolly banisher demon from cleaning hell. Get thee gone, spider! You're not welcome on this shelf!

"C'mon, Marinette, it can't be that bad."

Her left eye twitched. Maybe she should shoo Nino away with her duster, too. A big old woolly swat to the face. (It had to be woolly because Chat Noir was allergic to feathers, so her duster was made with lambswool.) Then again, Nino had tried his best to lie for her. It wasn't his fault she had sneezed and given away her hiding place. But it wasn't like she could tell him that she was not really an old woman and had fabricated the whole friend's grandniece thing either. The curse wouldn't let her say anything about what had happened to her.

She sighed. "You really want to know?"

"Mmhmm." He even made the skull nod, which he was still holding. That made her lips twitch into a smile.

"Okay," she said. "So Joséphine—"

"Alya's great aunt?"

"Yes. So, Joséphine and I were best friends, but then one day we had a discussion about which was better: chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies."

Nino's nose scrunched. "Um, okay."

"And naturally I said chocolate chip, because any kind of cookie with raisin in it is like receiving a gift-wrapped present with no gift inside. The betrayal, you know? The sheer deflating bubble of excitement, realising that what you thought was a delicious treat was just a trap of shrivelled grapes and blah." Marinette raised her fist towards the ceiling for dramatic effect, then shook her head. "But Joséphine was having none of that. She stood by her raisins, we argued, and we never spoke again."

Nino blinked. Blinked again. "What does that have to do with why you lied and hid in a cupboard?"

"I couldn't face her. What if Joséphine had told her about me? What if—"

He snorted. "Yeah, that's a load of cow dung."

Her lips twitched again. "It is true that I prefer chocolate chip cookies, though."

"That I can agree with, but seriously, Marinette. What's going on with you? I thought you knew Alya. You were the one being all protective over her when Chat Noir said he'd befriended her."

She sighed and glanced down at the duster in her hand. "I wish I could tell you, but there are reasons why I can't."

His eyebrows rose. "You're serious, aren't you? Is it really that bad? Are you in danger? Because—"

She laughed and touched his arm, getting him to calm down. "It's fine, Nino. I'll tell you the truth when I can, but for now you have to let me keep this secret, okay?"

His brow creased with worry, but then he placed his hand over her own and nodded. "Okay. But if you do need my help, you just say the word. Even if that means I have to be your grandson again."

"Thanks." She pulled him into a hug, giving an extra squish of affection as she held him close. "You're a good friend."

The front door opened. Chat Noir breezed in and greeted them cheerily as he placed a box of pastries on the table. Her heart did a little wobble when she saw the Dupain-Cheng's bakery insignia on the box. It felt like so long since she'd been able to spend proper time with her family.

"You've been in Market Chipping," she said.

"Well, it does have the best bakery in all of Ingary. You should know. You were there not that long ago stuffing your face with macarons."

Her lips pursed. She had not been stuffing her face; it had been only the one macaron, and she had treasured every bite. Before she could set him straight, however, he dipped into a flourishing bow and unearthed a bunch of brilliant red roses that he'd been hiding behind his back.

"For you," he said, smiling up at her with those warm green eyes.

Her heart tripped on its rhythm. "What's all this?"

Sometimes he gave her fresh flowers, but roses were the most expensive to buy and there was at least a dozen here. Something was clearly going on. Unless he'd just used magic to change a cheaper flower into the illusion of roses. Or maybe he needed her to do something for him, or maybe this was an apology in advance for something he'd done that he knew would upset her, or—

"Your carnations were looking a bit wilted," he said with a shrug. "I thought I'd get you something new to put in the vase. You do like roses, don't you?"

Or perhaps it was just a nice gesture.

She took the bunch from him and breathed in the fresh scent. The silky tips brushed her nose in a delicate caress. Not magic then. These were definitely real roses. "I do like them," she murmured. "They're beautiful."

He stared at her expectantly.

"What?" she said.

"Don't I get a hug, too?"

She arched her eyebrow. "You know, it's not usually the done thing to demand hugs from people."

"You gave Nino one," Chat Noir pointed out. The pout he wore was absolutely ridiculous. And adorable. "But I see how it is. Even when I go out of my way to buy you pretty roses, I guess I'm just chopped liver to you and—"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic," she said with a snort, and then pulled him into a one-armed hug, careful not to crush the roses. "You know I love you."

They both froze.

"As a friend!" she exclaimed, jumping back from him as if zapped. "Just as an old lady friend!"

"Right."

Were his cheeks pink? They definitely looked pink, and there was an odd intensity about his gaze as well and—oh no, her face was going hot. Too hot. Her cheeks could have acted as flames to cook Nino's lost eggs. And now Nino was staring at her, too.

"Water!" she blurted. "These flowers need water. I shall go do that now."

She frog-marched away like a stiff wind-up toy. Nino and Chat Noir began to talk about a new potion Nino was working on, which should have helped her face to cool down—no more attention on her and all—except her face still felt like a burning mask.

She had told Chat Noir that she loved him. The words had flowed off her tongue so naturally, so disastrously, for although she would be more than happy to tell Nino or Alya that she loved them, much in the same way she had often told her parents, what she felt for Chat Noir was not the same. Just saying the words had been like getting a brick chucked to her head, revealing with dizzying clarity that her feelings for him were not the purely platonic kind.

But that couldn't be right, could it? There was no way she had fallen for him.

"It's impossible," she muttered in a frustrated little whisper.

Chat Noir was dramatic and needy. He flirted with pretty girls and had once filled the castle with sticky, stinky slime because she'd accidentally made his hair turn ginger. (Only later, she'd found out his girlfriend, Kagami, had dumped him that day and he had not been handling it well.) But the point still remained that he was a handful. Sure, it was sweet that he used his magic to make her smile when he sensed she was sad, or how he was always there to offer a listening ear or help her out when she needed it. It was thoughtful of him to bring her gifts, and she appreciated that he had welcomed her into his home. And yes, he was handsome. More than handsome. And his eyes were such a lovely warm colour, and his lips looked so temptingly soft and—

She pressed her hands to her hot cheeks. Oh no. She really was in love with him. Romantic, undeniable love.

"You traitor," she groaned to her heart.

"What?"

She yelped, spinning on her heel to face Chat Noir, who had come to stand behind her. The roses slipped from her hand, but he managed to catch them by the bunched stems before the bouquet could fall on the floor.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to give you a fright."

She willed her heartbeat to slow. The thumping beat thundering in her ears was distracting. "Don't sneak up on me like that then. You and Nino are as bad as each other."

He smiled apologetically and handed the roses back to her, which she put in the vase she'd filled with water.

"So, what were you muttering to yourself about?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"You said something about a traitor."

"I said it's nothing."

He leaned in close so that he was at eye level with her, and she was irritated that her heart thumped faster. "You're hiding something," he said.

His scent teased her—warm and woodsy, but not overpowering. Why did it seem so much more pleasant now that she'd recognised her feelings? The scent was like a siren wrapping itself around her senses, beckoning her to come closer and drink it in.

She cleared her throat and looked the other way. "I was just muttering to myself. Is that a crime now?"

"I guess not."

He stepped back to put more space between them, allowing her to breathe properly again. She hadn't noticed how tense she'd become. Stupid feelings. Stupid Chat Noir.

"Anyway," he said, "I was just stopping in to drop off the roses."

"You're going out again?"

"I promised I'd meet Alya."

Her heart went cold. "Oh."

So, they had finally managed to set up a time to meet again, had they? No doubt he'd flirt with Alya like the shameless flirt he was, and she would be charmed. How could she not? Chat Noir was too pretty for his own good and had a bad habit of making girls fall in love with him. Even Marinette was not immune, it seemed, no matter how much she'd thought otherwise.

"I heard you hid from her," he said, an odd twinkle in his eye. "Even pretended you were someone else so she wouldn't recognise you."

Marinette shot Nino a betrayed look. So, these two had been talking about her, had they?

"I'm surprised," Chat Noir continued. "I thought you'd be happy to see your friend's grandniece."

"It's complicated."

"What—"

"I'm not going to explain why, so keep your nose out," she huffed, folding her arms. "You have your secrets. I have mine. Let's just leave it at that."

The little twinkle got brighter in his eyes and one corner of his mouth curved up. "Fair enough. I'll see you later then. Don't wanna be late for my meeting with Alya."

He winked and left through the magic door. The dial was turned to Kingsbury. Marinette stared at the dial. And stared.

"I shouldn't," she muttered.

Nino glanced over at her. "You say something?"

She ignored him. There was a serious battle happening in her mind, for while one part of her insisted that she stay exactly where she was and leave Chat Noir and Alya to it, as a good friend should, a much greater part of her couldn't stand the thought of not knowing what they were actually planning to do together. Was it a date? What if they smooched and became official boyfriend and girlfriend? Would Marinette then get stuck having to smile and act the supportive old granny, pretending everything was fine while the man she loved dated her best friend?

Icy snakes made a home in her belly and wrapped around her heart. The thought was insupportable, yet she would have to be happy for them, wouldn't she? It would be wrong to act petty and jealous. Wrong to expect them not to date if they had feelings for each other.

But Marinette hated the prospect all the same.

She stood up and pulled the seven-league-boots from the cupboard.

"Oh no," Nino said, spotting what she had in her hands. "What are you planning to do?"

"I'm just going to check on them," she said, avoiding his gaze. "Just to make sure Chat Noir isn't doing anything sneaky and trying to break Alya's heart."

Liar. She was the biggest liar.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Nino said.

"I'll only be quick."

"That's not what I meant. You know what happens every time you use the boots. Plus, Chat Noir will have my head if I let anything happen to you."

Warmth stirred in her chest, chasing the icy snakes away—at least a little. And wasn't that just pathetic. It wasn't like it was news that Chat Noir worried about her sometimes. "I won't be able to relax if I stay here," she said, shaking her head. "I have to check on them."

"Fine, but I'm coming with you."

She didn't argue. Frankly, she was pretty sure that Nino was just as curious to see what was going on between Chat Noir and Alya, as he had taken a fancy to her.

"Alright," she said, "but we can't let them know we're there."

"Hey, I'm not the one who gave myself away last time by sneezing."

Heat dusted her cheeks. "Let's just hurry."

They had some snooping to do.