Chapter Twenty Six – It Can't Be Worse

Adrien stares sleepily at the still fast asleep Marinette beside him. Her hair is messy and her blanket has twisted around her in her sleep. Her lips are parted and her eyelids twitch as her eyes move behind them. They're both sleeping on their sides, facing each other, and Marinette's curled into a little ball, knees tucked into her chest and hands curled under her chin. Her head is barely on the pillow and her hair is fanned out behind her.

Adrien can't look away. He can't bring himself to tear his eyes away from the girl sleeping next to him. He had the same problem just yesterday morning, but then the decision was made for him when he had to get home earlier so he could get to school early so he could meet Marinette there and make sure she didn't walk into school alone. Marinette rubs her lips together as he watches and snuggles closer to her pillow, a crease forming in between her eyebrows momentarily before her expression softens again.

"Kid?" Plagg whispers from somewhere behind him.

"Hmm?"

"You need to get going. Your alarm is about to go off." Adrien groans quietly and reluctantly pushes himself up and into a seated position, but his eyes don't leave her. He can't leave her. "Kid, seriously. How are you going to explain your absence to Nathalie if you're not there?"

"I'll be there." Adrien murmurs absentmindedly. He reaches over and tugs a corner of her blanket up so her shoulder is covered. She exhales heavily as he does so, almost as if to say thanks, and he grins.

Plagg hovers in front of his face and gives him a deadpanned expression. "You're not there. You're here. You need to go. Now."

Adrien frowns. "Why do you want to leave so badly? Last night you were itching for me to come here."

Plagg flips upside down and crosses his arms and legs, raising an eyebrow at his holder to hide his guilty expression. "Last night we didn't know her headspace. Now we do. And if you want to be able to come back you need to go."

Adrien wants to fight him, to beg to stay just a little longer. See her wake up, maybe? But he knows that he's right. "Fine." He grumbles, taking one last, longing look at her sleeping form before crawling out of the fort, Plagg following behind him. He hesitates for a moment before edging his way around the fort only to discover that he can't get to her sticky notes without potentially taking down one of the sheets holding the fort together. "Plagg, can you–"

Already knowing what he's asking, Plagg goes through the kwami–sized gap between the support beam and the platform of Marinette's bed. he takes a sticky note off the pile and grabs a pen, before taking them back to Adrien, who automatically goes back inside the tent. Plagg sighs, exasperated, and phases through to see what he's doing. Adrien sits back where he was not even two minutes ago, the blankets under him still warm from his body heat. He taps the pen against his knee, unsure of what to write, before settling with the truth.

Good morning princess. Sorry I'm not here to say so in person, but I had to skedaddle before anyone knew I was gone. I had a lot of fun, and I know that today will be absolutely pawsome! I'll try to swing by later if you want me to, and until then I'll be looking out for you.

Love, your superhero Godcat.

He debates whether the 'love' is too much, but ultimately decides to leave it. He sticks the note to the edge of her desk so she'll be able to see it when she sits up, and slips the mask off, leaving it on his pillow. It feels weird after having had it on all night, and even weirder and oddly thrilling to know that if she just opened her eyes now, she'd know who he is. With that thought in mind – and the knowledge that Ladybug will definitely kill him if a civilian was to find out who he was – he ducks down and presses a light, chaste kiss to her cheek before crawling away quickly before his cheeks catch on fire and burn the fort down.

Oh god, oh god, oh god, did I just do that? The cold, early morning wind hits his cheeks and instantly cools them, but he knows he more than likely still looks like a fire truck. Judging by the amused expression Plagg's wearing, he definitely looks like a fire truck. Before his kwami can say anything he calls for his transformation and then Cat Noir is bounding over the rooftops towards the Agreste mansion, trying his best to not think about what just happened because he needs to keep his head on straight if he wants to get home without falling off a building and becoming a kitty pancake.

I kissed her. I actually kissed her! I mean yeah, I kissed her before, but that was on her forehead and it was more out of reflex and she needed the comfort but I kissed her! On the cheek! And she's never going to know and I don't know if that's good or bad but holy mother of God I kissed her! Cat grins inanely even as he accidentally hits his head against the top of his window as he dives inside his room, releasing his transformation just as his alarm starts going off. He's still grinning when he's showering, and fixing his hair, and getting dressed ready for when Nathalie comes to collect him for breakfast. She gives him an odd look when he positively beams at her, and then he doesn't stop grinning all through breakfast, or when he has to go back to his room to brush his teeth and gather his things for school. He's still grinning when he climbs into the back of the car, and the Gorilla raises an eyebrow at him before focusing back on the road.

"Go to the bathroom when you get to school." Plagg whispers to him, and finally Adrien stops smiling to frown at the kwami.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Nino's waiting at the bottom of the school steps when the Gorilla pulls up and Adrien says a hasty 'thanks, see you after school' before running over to him, once again grinning.

"Hey!" He can't keep his cheerfulness out of his voice and Nino raises an eyebrow, bemused.

"Hey?" He can tell that Adrien's barely suppressing the urge to squeal happily at whatever's making him smile so much. It's actually a little unnerving, especially since Adrien doesn't usually smile with his teeth. "What's got you so . . ." He doesn't have a word to describe it, so he just gestures in the general direction of his friend.

Adrien opens his mouth to reply, the words 'I kissed Marinette' on the tip of his tongue before reality smashes him in the face. He can't tell Nino he kissed Marinette because he didn't kiss Marinette, Cat Noir kissed Marinette and how would Adrien know that Cat Noir kissed Marinette unless he was Cat Noir and Marinette doesn't know that Cat Noir kissed her so how on earth would he know that Cat Noir kissed her and the more he's saying it in his head the creepier it sounds and oh my God did he just accidentally sexually assault her like the princes in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty!?

"U–Uh . . ."

"Hey guys!" Adrien's head swivels to the side so quickly he's pretty sure he's just given himself whiplash. He can feel Plagg poking him insistently, but he ignores the kwami in favour of the smile Marinette gives him when their eyes meet. She skips over, bumping her shoulder against Nino's when she comes to a stop. "Ready for the aftermath?"

Nino beams at her, bumping his shoulder back against hers. "You're awfully chipper this morning?" He raises an eyebrow questionably but his smile doesn't wane.

"I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." Her eyes flick between Nino's and Adrien's, and they seem to sparkle with a sense of knowingness that has Adrien's heart skipping a beat for a reason his brain is completely unaware of. "Like I can breathe again."

"Good." Nino wraps an arm around her shoulders and starts guiding her up the stairs. "Breathing is important." Marinette snorts.

Marc and Nathaniel are waiting just inside the doors and Adrien tenses slightly, unsure how Marinette's going to react to Nathaniel being there, but she just exchanges pleasantries with them and answers their questions enquiring into how she's feeling about yesterday, and then Nino invites them to join them on their walk to the classroom, which they readily agree to. If Adrien has any more lingering doubt about whether Marinette's upset with Nathaniel for believing Lila over her, it's erased when she spends the entire walk to the classroom asking him and Marc about their next comic book. Her eyes light up as Nathaniel describes the artwork and Marc describes the plot, and she doesn't stop smiling the entire way to the classroom. Adrien knows this because he hasn't stopped looking at her since she arrived, but she doesn't seem to have noticed.

Judging by the smirk on Nino's face and the wriggle of his eyebrows every time he catches Adrien's eye, Nino does. Adrien can't bring himself to be embarrassed though, not when he's walking beside the most beautiful girl in the world, possibly even the universe. When they reach the classroom door, Marc gives Marinette a one–armed hug, kisses Nathaniel's cheek, and promises to meet them in the art room at lunch before going to his own class. Nino steps closer to Marinette and wraps an arm around her waist, ducking down to whisper in her ear.

"Are you sure you're ready? I tracked down the Harry Potter books in the library yesterday in case we need them."

Marinette giggles but shakes her head. "I need to get this over with." She inhales deeply and releases it as she looks back at the still closed classroom door. "It can't be worse than yesterday."

Nino tightens his arm around her in a hug, before releasing her in favour of taking her hand. "If you're sure?"

"I'm not." They're speaking at normal volume now and Nathaniel frowns at her in concern and squeezes her shoulder in support. "But I can't put this off for forever."

"It'll be okay, Mari." Adrien says, smiling at her as warmly as he possibly can.

She manages a small smile in return, heart rate beginning to increase as the anticipation starts to make her panic. Before her panic completely overwhelms her, she pushes open the door and steps into the classroom, Nino's hand in hers helping to ground her.