Chapter 6: More Than I Thought

There's something about Adrien that she can't quite place. They've only known each other for a short time, but already she can tell that there are many sides to him: the gleeful shouts, sly smirks when he thinks no one is watching, or even the way he tries to be as honest as possible. All of them are a part of him and Marinette has to stop and think. High school is full of pretenders, herself included, but all she sees when he talks is kindness. It bleeds through his skin and into everything that he's doing. Especially the pictures; she loves the pictures. They litter her wall, photoshopped to fit her desktop and she swears upon his perfection like the Bible, like he is the most genuine creature that exists. But there's more to Adrien Agreste than meets the eye. She's just not entirely sure what.

It's not until she's patrolling with Cat Noir, flying through the sky, that she thinks she can figure it out.

"You're a guy, right?"

"Me-ouch, my Lady. Have you ever thought me otherwise?" She gives him a look over her shoulder. "Alright, yes. What about it?"

"Do you act... differently when you're a civilian?"

Cat Noir pauses. "I thought we weren't going to talk about our civilian selves."

"It's for something at school." She lies even though she's hoping for the truth. "So?"

"I'm different enough. Pretty boring, actually."

"You and me both, kitty." Ladybug turns quickly, swinging with her yo-yo once more as they patrol.

"I highly doubt that," Cat Noir quips from behind her. "You'd certainly be miraculous even without your costume, my Lady."

"No, I'm not. I'm just an average person. I'm nothing special."

"That's ridiculous. Girls do tend to have many sides to them, my Lady. Even if this was the more confident you, it doesn't mean you stop being you when you're not confident. No matter who you are on the other side of the mask, you are still you."

"Girls are awfully complex, kitty. I'm glad you know that," she teases, vaulting off yet another Parisian rooftop.

"So what makes you think boys are any different?" he asks.

"It's not that I don't think boys are any different," she says slowly, "but I also know that sometimes there are things that boys think they can't tell anyone. There's more to them than meets the eye. I just can't tell what sometimes. I want to help but I don't know how. I don't know if I need to." Ladybug takes a deep breath.

Cat Noir is quiet, analyzing what she says before coming up with a question of his own. "You're looking at a lot of boys then?"

"What?"

"I mean, it'd be nice to know who my competition is," says Cat Noir with a sly grin and a bit of uncharacteristic stiffness in his figure. "I'll be sure to win your heart as long as you keep your eyes on me, my Lady."

"You're a silly kitty. That's what you got out of that?" laughs Ladybug before reminding him gently that, "it's just for school."

"Then my advice is just to be patient and observant. There's a lot of different outlets for boys and there's certainly a lot of opportunities to express themselves. It just depends on how and when."

It puts things in perspective for her.

When she is once more young, clumsy Marinette, she goes through her pictures, the beloved ones she has drawn cute hearts on and decorated with affection. She looks at Adrien's face and sees something more. Not the confidence she has come to adore or the charm or the kindness. In exchange, she is left with the nagging feeling that all is not quite well with the world; with his world. That he is a model who must channel his emotions and become the image the photographer has instructed him to be. He is play-doh and clay, ready to be morphed, and she can't help but think that there is more to him than what she sees. Perhaps there is an extra bit of him that is not all sweet words and encouraging smiles, but something a bit darker; perhaps he has something that haunts him in his sleep and lingers in the corners of his mind.

She's always known there was something she couldn't see within him, and perhaps this is it. Perhaps there is a secret in the longing look he gives laughing children and their parents, or the excitement he expresses when he spends time with others in his class outside of school.

She wonders if maybe he is just another pretending teenager, someone who has perfected the face he wears to hide the lonely boy she found months ago in the rain, and the thought brings him closer to her heart than ever before.

Because if he is a pretender too, then perhaps she isn't as far from his world as she thinks.