Ahh finally one of the chapters I've been dying to write.
Also for clarification (again), this is a big what-if. I'm Mexican, I had to google the French educational system and even then I'm taking some artistic licences.
So for sake of my sanity and not have continuity errors in the story (the show doesn't even know what that is), by the time of this episode it is, of course, February, Adrien and Marinette are both 15. They met when 13 and then was Adrien's birthday for 14, AND THEN I wrote a summer vacation so they both 14, after that the rest of chapters up to now where I do mention Befana (because let's be honest, it gave me nothing of use to redo in my perception) so up until now they are both 15 years old. Which...will be of use for the arrival of Lila but that's for me to write and you to find out soon.
Now, enjoy some slight angst, some slight fun stuff and the continuation of feeling realization.
Marinette knew her flaws. She could be stubborn, her goal-driven passion could lead to tunnel vision and ignore everything else, her temper with certain things wasn't the best to deal with, not to mention she did tend to jump into conclusions a lot and so and so.
But the one thing she hated to admit about herself was when she was off the loop concerning people she cared about. In this case, her closest friend, her partner of battling crime Adrien.
It was more than obvious something was going on with him, she frowned while watching him talk with Nino that morning. He had waved at her but his words came fumbled as if he was in a hurry to leave her and move somewhere else. Not only that but patrols had become more of meeting and splitting rather than catching up or watching a movie or playing a game.
She missed that.
Had she done something wrong? Had she said something mean to him? Marinette fumbled with her pen, doodling swirls on the corner of the page rather than paying attention to the lecture. Her brain tried to come up with something but nothing came to mind.
Is it because she didn't date Nino? But Nino had come to realize he had feelings for Alya so that couldn't be.
Had she said something to Chloe? Well not as if Marinette actively looked for her attention, on the contrary, the least she handled from her the better since she got to become class representative and all that stolen bracelet fiasco she didn't want to deal with the blonde at all.
But Adrien had slowly, but surely started to make the girl see different. It was faster to see a tortoise run than Chloe being a good person in Marinette's opinion but she had never told Adrien that. And she knew that no matter how much of a menace Chloe was, she had been Adrien's only friend when he was young, she would never take that away from him.
So what had she done to earn her partner's sudden avoidance? Marinette sighed and found herself reaching for her purse to fiddle with the lucky charm Adrien had given her on her birthday. That had been a wild ride, what with her grandmother coming out of nowhere and the surprise, not so much of surprise party they had planned for her. Back then Adrien didn't look any different, if anything it had been a heck of a plan to distract Befana and capture the akuma since she was targeting Marinette and she was unable to transform for a good while.
But nothing else came to her mind as to why Adrien was now acting that way towards her.
"Now in most fairytales, the prince breaks the spell by kissing the princess, can anyone tell us why?"
Marinette snapped her eyes back to class with that, what were they talking about? Oh yeah, fairytales.
"Because only love can conquer hate," she heard Rose say, making Marinette smile. Leave it to her to say the romantic version of it.
Huh, come to think of it, all of this started also because of romantic feelings, Marinette thought, looking down at Adrien who was too busy scribbling down something to pay attention to the class.
Could it be…? Marinette bit her thumbnail, the gears in her head working fast, did Adrien fall in love with someone? And he didn't want to share it with Marinette?
No, that couldn't be, she shook her head, they would tell each other about those! Marinette confessed to him her silly crush on Kim when she was eight and Adrien told her he hadn't really had crushes except for one time when modelling with an English company and it had been a preteen summer love that lasted a week.
So Marinette could be sure if Adrien had a crush on someone he would have trust in her to share it.
Right?
'But what if' Marinette frowned 'what if it was a friend of mine?'
Marinette could feel her head heating up from all of these 'what ifs'. She knew the only way to find out was to ask him directly. But how would she even approach that topic? And what if it was true? What if Adrien really found someone and fell in love with that person and suddenly wouldn't be around as much? What about fighting akumas? That would create a rift between Adrien and his crush because secrets and running away from dates, it would lead to misunderstandings and breakups and then there would be an akumatized version of Adrien that Marinette was not going to be able to even face because it would break her heart and-
"Marinette!"
"ACK!" Marinette jumped from her seat, falling off to the ground with her papers scattering all around her. She looked up to see Alya who kneeled over to help her up, both picking Marinette's papers.
"Girl, you ok? I had been trying to call you for a really long time, class is also over!"
"Y-yeah, it's just…" she sighed, looking at the now empty seat in front of her "hey do you see Adrien a little…different? Or did I say or do something mean to him?"
"Different? Mean?" Alya crossed her arms "do tell."
"I… I don't know but, it just feels something is different on him now" Marinette shuffled with her feet "we don't get to talk much, it feels as if…well if he were avoiding me."
"And you think it's because of something bad,"
"Well what else could it be?" Marinette pouted, not really wanting to say her other reasoning "ah, I'll just go home and dwell on it until we see each other after lunch."
Unbeknownst to her, Adrien was lingering in his room, tossing a stress ball from one hand to the other.
"Plagg," he sighed, "what am I going to do?"
"Buy more cheese," the kwami said, ignoring Adrien's glare.
"Ugh! You don't know anything about love" Adrien rolled on his bed, squeezing the ball.
"Sure I do! I love cheddar and Swiss but most of all Camembert!"
Adrien flopped the pillow to his head. This was stupid.
So he found out he had feelings for Marinette, now what? He knew he was avoiding her, because now every time he looked at her all he could think was how would her hand feel on his, how her smile made his chest flutter, how her eyes were bluer than the sky and more beautiful than anything he had ever seen-
"Why her?" he moaned into the pillow "what if she doesn't feel the same way Plagg? This will ruin our friendship! I can't lose her as a friend!"
"Then don't" Plagg sighed. He was way too old to deal with this. And he had lived for millennia "pretend you don't and move on,"
"She will figure out something is wrong fast" he frowned "she is incredibly smart!"
Adrien chuckled at that, his partner was smart indeed. Like last akuma they faced involved a sculptor trying to impersonate him. She wasn't fooled oh no, Marinette could tell who was the fake with her eyes closed.
Or when they had to help out Mylène when she was the one akumatized and connected how to make her akuma version smaller to purify it.
Without realizing he was reminiscing of all their fights and patrols, smiling at the obvious pointers of how smart, resourceful and strong Marinette was. And then the thought of ruining that with his crush came over him.
"Our work as superheroes" Adrien rolled again on his bed "if I tell her and she says no it will create awkwardness in our job and more akumas will attack and oh no what if she gets angry at my confession enough to be akumatized? I can't fight her!"
"Then don't tell her,"
"But I can't just ignore her until it goes away!"
"Then tell her," Plagg rolled his eyes.
Adrien went for his phone, the background photo just making him want to waddle more. It was a selfie of him and Marinette at her home, both covered in flour from Adrien's baking lesson. He remembered that day, how he had burned the first two batches, how they almost spilt all the brown sugar and how Marinette almost chased him around with the batter mixer thanks to his bread puns, but in the end, they managed an edible batch to eat while watching cooking shows.
He smiled at the photo. Maybe he could tell her, maybe it would be a different step in their relationship and-
*ding*
He blinked at the new message, only to wince when he saw it was a photo from Chloe of Kim no doubt after trying to confess to her.
Well, there was going to be an akuma now for sure.
Adrien stood up and called his transformation. He knew there was a big chance of an Akuma on Valentine's Day but he didn't think it would be because of Chloe.
Well, he didn't want it to be.
Chat jumped across rooftops, looking at couples suddenly shouting at each other, people ruining flower arrangements or throwing candies to the ground and shuddered. Whatever power this akuma was doing was not pretty to the occasion.
He spotted Ladybug hanging upside down from a building while the akuma flew to the other side, enough space for him to gather with her.
"Hey LB" he called for her "turning to Spidergwen now?"
"Not quite" she glanced down and lowered to his height "but this is a nasty one,"
"I saw the photo" Chat sighed "poor Kim."
"Yeah, so for now it would be best not to get hit-"
There was something they had learned a few weeks ago in class, about dramatic irony, a device where the readers would understand something was about to happen that the characters didn't. An irony because the character in question would say something and then that thing would happen, like the Titanic scene. Adrien remembered, at that time of any, that lesson in particular, because just as Ladybug said those words he saw the akuma flying towards them, about to shoot one arrow at her.
Dramatic irony at its finest.
"LB watch out!" he acted too fast, and he knew she was going to chastise him later for it, but his reflexes were only fast enough to shield her from the hit.
"Chat Noir!" Ladybug couldn't believe he had gotten the hit, suddenly trapped in his arms. This was like Timebreaker all over again except Chat wasn't vanishing now, she could feel him fighting whatever was happening from the akuma attack.
"Ladybug I…I, I loathe you!"
Those words weren't real. Ladybug knew it was an effect of the akuma, she had seen it with Alya, how it twisted emotions to hate and despise.
It didn't take away how it felt like her world was falling apart.
"Chat Noir snap out of it!" she yelled, trying to pull away from him.
"You're nothing to me Ladybug, I hate you!"
"Stop it!" she stomped on his foot and swung out of there, running as fast as she could to create distance. She needed to create a new plan, save Chat and purify the akuma, but it wasn't until she was hidden in the back of an alley that her eyes betrayed her and started to cry.
"Stop, stop it" she wiped her eyes "that was not what he meant, Chat doesn't hate me…he doesn't hate me."
Ladybug slapped her cheeks. She had to keep repeating it to herself. That one speaking was a twisted version of Chat, he was under the akuma's control, who most likely inflicted hate and anger.
She rubbed her eyes and set her route to another place to hide, her luck just sending her to the Grand Hotel where the least person she wanted to see was hiding.
"Ladybug! It's about time, where have you been?"
Ladybug glared at her, angry enough to make the girl zip up.
"Fighting the akuma you created" she pointed a finger at her "no, zip it Chloe, I know how you embarrassed that guy."
"Moi?" she gasped "as if! I did not ask him to kneel in front of me, at least not this time."
Ladybug balled her fists. Maybe it was because she felt shaken from Chat's words or she was just tired of this, but enough was enough.
"Listen up Chloe, I have had it up to here with your attitude" she stood in front of her, "you say you admire me, that you are my number one fan, and I wanted to give you the chance after you got akumatized but you know what I think? I think you are nothing but a spoiled child who doesn't give a damn about anyone else!"
"I-I" for once Chloe was at a loss of words, soon all interrupted when Dark Cupid showed up to attack. And as angry as she felt right now, she still had to protect Chloe. She didn't feel remorse from pulling her out like a sack of potatoes out of the hotel though, only to be stopped by Chat. Hate induced Chat.
"Well, well, well Ladybug," he sauntered in front of her.
"I don't want to fight you!" she took a defensive stand.
"Ugh, that friendliness is so revolting, you are definitely not my friend."
That's not how he thought of her, that was the akuma's influence. She had to tell herself that as she dodged another attack, running as fast as she could from him. How was she even going to face him and the akuma at the same time?
"Chat please!" she managed to stop him for a moment "why are you so full of hate?!"
"Because hate conquers all!"
"I hate to burst your bubble but that's not how the saying goes, love conquers all!"
'That's it!' she gasped, remembering the lesson. Love conquered and if this was an emotional spell then a show of love would change…
Wait.
'The prince breaks the spell by kissing the princess.'
In all fairness, Adrien sometimes acted like a Disney princess it was hilarious.
'Focus Marinette' she glanced at Chat Noir.
Well, she did love him. He was her friend, her confidant, a very important special person to her.
But was she in love with him?
To be quite honest she didn't have the luxury to think about that at the moment, she needed to save him and Kim. Besides, love came in all shapes, not only romantic love.
"Fight!" Chat brought back her attention, Ladybug reeling back her yo-yo.
"I'll do better than that," she walked towards him, thinking it was to save him over and over "just a peck."
To her surprise Chat bolted running this time and making Ladybug chase after him.
To think this was the only way to break whatever akuma spell was on Chat was one thing, but the more she chased after him, the more her brain reeled over the thought.
Was she willing to kiss Adrien? She hadn't really thought about it before. Then again, she had seen his fans and how he was about advances against him. She was going to apologize a hundred times over if necessary for this.
She halted those thoughts as she was now two versus one, with Dark Cupid catching up to them just as she was about to break the spell.
"Cataclysm!" she heard him call, her face draining when he wondered out loud how it would affect a living person.
"Lucky charm!" she called hers, a candy apple falling on her hand. The wheels in her mind moved fast as she came up with a plan. Putting it to motion was the tough part, but at least she was glad to know how Chat moved, barely avoiding the destruction energy in his palm, but it was more difficult when she found herself pinned to the floor, with him on top about to slam it again.
'It's not or never' were her thoughts as she pulled him by the face to kiss him.
She had never kissed anyone before if anything this felt like a smash of her lips against his, but they tingled with magic evaporating. So it did work!
Ladybug pulled away, her cheeks flushed as she looked and hoped it was gone.
"Huh? What? How did I get here?"
Oh thank goodness it did.
She pulled herself up and lifted him, she would totally explain afterwards, for now the sooner they got rid of the akuma the better.
"Long shot!" he threw the pin at her to be destroyed and purified, the swarm of ladybugs a huge relief for her as everything came back to normal.
"Ok… I want to say I'm sorry for getting hit and – uf!" Chat's air was squeezed out as Ladybug tackled hug him "you're not mad at me?"
"Just a speck" she sighed "do you hate me?"
"What?! Of course not!" Chat squeezed her back "I'd never hate you."
The rest of that sentence got caught in his mouth, both their miraculous beeping to signal it was time to go.
"Look, I'll explain what happened later, sounds good?" she pulled out her yo-yo "the first spot?"
"Of course" he extended his baton "I'll meet you there."
Marinette lied back down on her bed, finally giving herself a chance to breathe. She checked her phone, wincing at Kim's photo, only to see there was another one, this one from Chloe, covered in dirt and with her hair a mess.
Huh, she had lost track of the girl after the hotel so maybe something had happened to her.
"Would it be a good idea if I go check on her?" Marinette rolled on her bed, frowning as she pushed away from her phone "I did…kind of snapped at her today."
"You were under stress Marinette," Tikki said, "but I know you'll do what is right."
Marinette eyed the kwami and then the phone. It took her just a couple of minutes to give up and stand up, offering Tikki another cookie for the trouble. She transformed and went directly to the hotel, after all, she had a window of time before meeting Chat Noir.
Chloe was, to Ladybug's surprise, quietly staring the Parisian city from her balcony, the remains of Adrien's poster on the floor, covered in lipstick and pen. Oh, so someone had been affected by the akuma after all.
"Hello Chloe," she landed next to her, startling the blonde.
"L-Ladybug?" Chloe took a step back "why are you here?"
"I came here to apologize" Ladybug sighed "I shouldn't have yelled at you today and- "
"Please, stop" Chloe hugged herself, something Ladybug had never seen from her before "ugh I cannot believe I'm saying this but, you are right."
Ok, that was completely new in Marinette's book.
"I truly don't like Kim in any sense of romance" she frowned "but there are…better ways to say it."
"Well…yes,"
"And Sabrina posted that photo for everyone to see and, I guess I now know how he must have felt."
"Wow…" Ladybug was a loss of words. The tortoise was moving after all.
"Can I ask Chloe…" she couldn't believe she was doing this "why do you act that way?"
Chloe sat on one of her lounge chairs, fiddling with her phone for a while and then looking at Ladybug in a way Marinette had never, ever, seen her before. Like a lost child.
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course," Ladybug automatically answered, taking a seat in front of her.
"I… and this is something only Adriki-Adrien knows" Chloe started "but… my mother is not really… I don't get to see her often and she acts like the world is at her feet…and maybe, if I try to be like her, then she'll want to spend more time with… well here," she sniffled "there, I said it, you can laugh at me now."
"Chloe…"
Ladybug had no idea of what to say now. She knew who Chloe's mother was, of course: Audrey Bourgeois, the Fashion Queen by all means of the name. She was ruthless, cold and precise but with a good eye for fashion, someone Marinette admired in the career field, but as a person? It was like Gabriel all over again.
To hear Chloe admitting it was just to feel a connection to her, well, it made more sense in many, many situations. Explained? Absolutely. Justified? Not really.
"I have built myself a reputation, I can't just change overnight you know" she tossed her ponytail to a side, but Ladybug could tell this was more of a shield, to still keep some control of the emotions she had bottled up.
"It's never too late to change Chloe," Ladybug stood up "as long as you really want to change, you admitted the first part, the difficult one, now you have to do the next."
"Which is…"
"Apologize" Ladybug shrugged "and yes, maybe the people you've hurt won't forgive you, but that's up to them, not you. If you truly want to change, if you really want to become a better person, then that's what you should do."
Chloe looked at her like she ate a bug.
"And," she spun her yo-yo "I think there are a couple of people willing to help you out on that."
With that, she left the balcony to catch up with Chat at the top of the Eiffel tower. The sun was already low on the horizon, giving the perfect sunset for lots of Parisian couples, their romantic dates just beginning as Ladybug walked towards Chat.
"So," he looked at her "can you fill me in with this akuma?"
"Well you got hit and the thing was making you say hateful things so I had to- "
"Wow, wait, what?" Chat's eyes widened "did I hurt you? Did I say something mean to you?"
"Chat, you were under the spell," Ladybug said, with more reassurance than hours ago, he didn't hate her at all. Chat, Adrien, was her friend and they had a special bond, today was proof of that "I knew you didn't mean any of those."
"Oh…" he fiddled with his thumbs "and how did you break it of? Because I was the one who tossed you the object and-"
"Ah yeah," her cheeks flushed "well, remember this morning at class?"
"The book we have to finish reading because you said it was nothing like the Disney movie?"
"Hm…yeah" she smiled a little, "let's say you fulfilled your role as Disney princess."
She waited, hoping Chat would get the hint, giggling at how comical he looked.
"You mean you- "he pointed at his lips "you had to k- "his cheeks turned red "you kissed me?"
"Hm," she tried to control her own blushing "please don't be mad."
'I'm mad I can't remember it' Chat thought, his face hot from that thought alone.
"I'm not! As always you knew how to solve it, you're amazing LB."
"Oh please, now you're flattering," she held his hand "so…are we still friends?"
"Of, of course, we are!" Chat blinked, looking at her face "wait… did you think we were not going to because of of…this?"
"Well no, not that" Ladybug tugged at one of her pigtails, "it's just, lately I noticed you a little…well distant and avoiding so I thought I may have done something to hurt you-"
"Never," he squeezed her hand "I'm sorry I… had a lot in mind and was trying to order my thoughts, but know this LB, we are always going to be friends."
She sighed in that embrace, a part of her relieved.
But, as she lied down to sleep hours later, a new thought jumped into her mind, taking away any chance of sleep.
What if, she wanted more than that?
Marinette touched her lips, thinking back on that kiss. It hadn't meant anything romantic, it had been a need to an end. But what if they had one that truly meant…more?
Marinette jumped out of her bed and grabbed her diary, jotting down the now swirl of thoughts and feelings rushing her head. Did she? Could she possibly feel that way towards Adrien? They had been through a lot, good and bad, in and out of the mask. Marinette chewed her bottom lip and kept writing. She tried to picture it, picture herself going on a date with Adrien, holding hands, hugging and kissing…
Her cheeks got red, flustered at that thought.
She wanted to kiss him.
She wanted him to know of the kiss.
And Adrien was way more than a model boy in her eyes. Adrien was a goof who quoted anime in fights, who was barely able to bake a cookie and burn the other eleven, who hated coleslaw and pushed it to her plate whenever he had to eat it.
He was this nice, kind, caring boy who looked after akuma victims right when they were purified, who saluted at civilians more often and agreed to sudden photos with the peace sign and big grin. Adrien was the smart guy who helped her in hard sciences but couldn't for the life of him remember the difference between phonetics and phonology.
Marinette dropped her pencil, the realization hitting her like a heatwave. The one thing that would now change everything in their dynamic.
'I'm in love with Adrien Agreste… I'm in love with Chat Noir.'
This was my longest chapter up until now (have a feeling some of season 2 will be longer)
Also heads up for other chapter references my cheap way to add them.
I told myself to do Volpina next and be done with season 1 but Jackady (Simon Says) is very...very helpful in Hawkmoth information and hey I can get some ladrien squeezed in.
So I'll roll with that, then Volpina and then future me will decide which to use from season 2