This is my first fanfic, like ever. And it's my first time writing on here so I'm still not 100% sure how the uploading on here even works. I'll try uploading weekly, but I'm a college student so there may be weeks when I don't.

"She hates me"

"Kid, we've gone through this before, there's no way that pigtails girl hates you, what's propelled this new bout of 'she hates me', it's like the third time now, I'm getting a bit tired here". The comment didn't pass without receiving a glare from his holder. "You were in the locker, so you probably didn't see the way she fully ignored me today, like I was but a mere roadblock that she feels forced to interact with."

Adrien didn't know what to expect of the occurrence this morning, but it had left him unsettled all day.

"How did I mess up my friendship with Marinette? I don't know what I did wrong." Looking up towards the kwami, the grief of a possibly lost friendship loomed over him.

"She's told you before that she likes you, so obviously, she can't hate you, besides she's even given you that thing you always carry with and can't seem to let go of," said Plagg as he went around the room looking for a piece of camembert to satiate his never-ending hunger.

"She's too nice to ever tell me that she doesn't like me" and as he said it, he knew it to be true, she probably felt obliged to pretend that she likes him because their best friends are dating each other, he was unlovable of course sh-

He was pulled out of his reverie by the smack of his kwami's hands on his cheek. He looked up, their eyes meeting, neon green staring at green. "Don't." the words that came from the kwami seemed to echo in his head as a warning, in that moment he understood that he had been falling into the endless pit of self-hate and self-deprecation. His gaze softened and a smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

"Thanks, Plagg."

"Whatever, the cloud over your head was dampening my appetite, I couldn't eat my dear camembert with such gloom in the room." The kwami disappeared once again in the search of his love.

He had to come up with a plan to get Marinette to truly consider him as a friend, only then could he be content. No answers came to him until the craziest of ideas appeared in the corner of his mind. Marinette seemed to not like Adrien much, but she was agreeable, perhaps friendly, and even comfortable around Chat Noir. Then he had a sudden epiphany.

"That's it Plagg!" excitement filled coursed through his body, a hope of some sorts spreading through his chest.

"What's it?" he got closer, curious about his holder's sudden outburst of positivity.

"I'll visit Marinette as Chat Noir! She's always been open towards the superhero, and I think that that's how I can figure out what's wrong". His eyes gleamed in a new-found goal, burning through all his thoughts.

"Kid, there's nothing wrong, she's just being like she's always been."

"No, she wasn't, I'm sure there was something wrong" the kwami sighed in defeat, Adrien wasn't going to believe that nothing was wrong anytime soon, and with his new crazy idea there was no way he could stop his train of thoughts now, "in fact, I'm going there now.

"

"What?! It's way too late for you to go visit pigtails." Plagg tried to reason with him, but the capacity of reasoning was not something his holder had much of.

"Look, I'll just swing by, check if the lights are on, and if they're off, I promise I'll come right back, okay?"

"Adrien…" Plagg felt in his gut that he didn't like the idea, but when did Adrien ever truly hear him? He sighed in defeat, he knew there was no way of making his holder not carry out what he intended, and heck he's the god of destruction, he shouldn't care either!

With a sideways look of not-so-happy approval, he nodded.

Adrien smiled widely, "Plagg, Claws out!". After making sure to leave a decoy on his bed, he left through his window and catapulted himself on the roofs, taking a fast sprint in his desire of getting there as soon as possible.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … …

The sight of the bakery caught his eye, and he smiled as he saw from far away that there were some lights on still, but as he approached he saw that his classmate was leaning on the railing of her balcony, seemingly consumed in her own thoughts and gazing longingly to the night. He came from behind the chimney so as not to alert her of his presence, just observing her. "I know you're there."

Was she talking to him? How had she noticed his presence? He pondered whether to show himself, but then remembered as to why he was there.

"Princess, how did you know I was here?" his curiosity piqued because he knew he was extremely silent, so how had she heard him? He moved towards her, sitting on the railing as he had done so previously once.

"I could see you when you were approaching from the other direction, but then you changed your course, it was actually a lucky guess that you were actually here." She turned towards him with a small smile, but he could see something in her eyes. Something wasn't right.

"Princess, is there something wrong?"

She turned away from his prying eyes, she felt too vulnerable right now, and she wasn't sure she could keep herself from just exploding in emotion near her partner. She knew the reason for her upset was stupid, but it didn't shake off the sour taste.

"Marinette…" she could hear his worry, and what she registered as desperation, for what she didn't know. Pondering whether to talk about it, she decided that it probably wouldn't hurt to talk about it, so long as she didn't mention names (she'd be far too embarrassed if she confessed to her partner that her crush happened to be ever so famous supermodel that just so happened to be in her class)

"Well um, Chat, do you remember that guy I talked about once?" She looked up at him, hoping he caught what she was referring to.

"Yeah, the guy you're in love with. What happened? Do I need to kill someone?" He grinned playfully as he stood up, flipping around so that now he stood beside her, she could see a small glint in his eye, and his grin softened leaving behind a small smile to grace his lips. It comforted Marinette that she had someone so ready to defend her heart. With a small laugh, she turned so that she was directly in front of him.

"There's no need to defend my honor, Chat. I'm fine" But she didn't look fine, thought Chat, but he could feel that she didn't want him pressing on the matter on who she liked so he let it go, for now.

"So what happened?" He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, but he hated, no, despised seeing her so sad. Marinette was his first friend, and he wasn't about to let her deal with her dilemma alone.

"Nothing happened per se, I just realized that although I love him with all my heart, he'll never feel the same way."

But it seemed like Luka really like Marinette, thought Chat.

"What are you going to do about it?" at the question Marinette turned around and leaned against the railing.

"I don't know Chat." she truly didn't know, it had only been a few hours since she had the sudden revelation and it had caused her to ignore Adrien massively. "I think I'll give myself some space, clear my head a bit, you know?" And he did know, that was the exact same thing he was doing while he was courting Kagami, he was trying to put some space in his heart between His Lady and him.

"Yeah, I understand, I have as well been trying to put some space." Marinette turned towards him, unable to keep the surprise from both her voice and her face.

"You're giving up on Ladybug?" It seemed strange to Chat the way she reacted, but he paid no mind to it.

He shrugged dismissively, but she could still feel the tinge of pain that rolled off of his gesture, "I wouldn't call it giving up, I just faced the reality that she will never love me the way I do," and Marinette understood then that her kitty had been hurting much more than he had let on.

She extended her hand in invitation, looking up at him expectantly, only to be received by a curious glance. "Follow me, Chat." He didn't know where she would take him, but the invitation seemed too tempting to reject. His hand reached hers, and without missing a beat she pulled on his arm, bringing him towards the door that leads to her room.

The two landed on her bed, and she quickly pulled him down the stairs of the loft, sitting him down on the chaise. "Stay here, I'll bring up some juice and cookies." Chat observed as she disappeared through the trap door, and he let his eyes wander around the room, glancing up at the pictures that Marinette had of his civilian self still on her wall. The photos had been interchanged but he couldn't tell if they were from the newest collection, he wanted to get closer but as soon as his body started to move, he heard Marinette's steps going up the stairs, leaving the photos out of the front of his head.

Marinette's head soon appeared as she balanced a tray with two glasses and a small mountain of chocolate chip cookies. "So, I hope you're at least a decent player on Mecha Strike III, or else I'm really going to kick your ass, and it's a total shame when there's no competition."

Chat felt the taunt rile him up, as he rose up to grab the game controller that was suddenly offered to him. "Oh, you are so on, you're going to regret ever daring me."

…He lost. Multiple times, in fact. Chat should've known better taking on the dare against Marinette, who had played for the championships for MSIII, he should've known even better because he himself had played and lost against her plenty of times before as Adrien.

Nevertheless, it was downright fun to just play with Marinette, any sign of her sadness had disappeared, replaced by the desire of winning. And it made him feel so good, the constant back and forth of playful banter felt just right.

Looking towards his right, he could see the gleam of playfulness in Marinette's eyes, and he knew that he had made the right choice by coming here. "It's been great playing with you, Princess." Marinette laughed, "more like losing against me".

"Hey! I won a few matches, it wasn't all losing", Marinette hummed and turned her head towards the clock on her wall, it was 1 am and she had classes tomorrow. She didn't want to part with him yet, but she knew that she needed her sleep.

"Chat, I think it's time for you to go home, it's late and it's a school night."

He stood up with a grin, bowing he said "You're absolutely right, besides I need my beauty sleep if I'm to look so dashing all the time, it's exhausting, you know?" At his words, Marinette couldn't help but snort suddenly.

"Meow-ch, does my Princess think I'm not dashing?" he held a hand over his chest lingering over his heart dramatically.

"Of course, but you really should get that beauty sleep if you say so."

With a pout, he climbed up towards the door that leads to her balcony, her following behind him. As he poised himself ready to leave he turned apprehensively, "Marinette, I-I don't wish to impose myself, but this was all really fun and I hope there could be a repeat, of-of course only i-if you're comfortable with my presence"

A smile graced her lips at his honesty, and she pondered on his words, it didn't seem like the best idea to let him pass too much time in her room, just in case an akuma attack happened while they're together. But it couldn't be all that awful, she could balance things out, just had to be sure to be attentive to akuma attacks.

Chat could see that she was lost in her thoughts, and he felt like he had pushed her boundaries too much. "Princess, I understand if tonight wasn't enjoyable to you, I get it. I'm sorry for trying to impose myself in your life". He started turning, ready to leave once and for all, feeling dejected. But he felt a tug holding him grounded, he looked back, only to see that Marinette was holding tightly his tail, not letting him make his escape.

With her face facing the floor, she muttered something that he couldn't hear. "What did you say? I couldn't hear you."

Marinette lifted her face and decidedly said, "I do want you to come back. I really, really enjoyed tonight."

A huge grin broke out on Chat's face, he felt the urge to hug her but didn't want to push more than what would make her comfortable, so with a salute, and a promise of coming back soon he left jumping through the rooftops of Paris. Marinette stared until he disappeared, and with a sigh entered back on her room, ready to get ready to go to bed and sleep the night away.

Tell me what y'all think

P.S. I tried proofreading this, but there's so much I can do because English isn't my first language, either way, I hope you guys at least enjoyed this first chapter!