Chapter 6: Clearing the air
Marinette paces in her pink room. The kwami know better than to disturb her when she's like this, and fly into the hidden miracle box leaving her racing thoughts. Chat Noir has changed over the years, is this the first time she's noticing? Maybe she was too distracted with Adrien to pay attention but now…she huffs and sits down in her white chair, spinning herself around. Does every boy have the ability to make her so flustered? She tried, and failed, to find something with Luca and although she greatly appreciates his understanding, it's clear to her now that all they will be are friends. It's not the same feeling she gets when she looks at him, to when she looks at Adrien. As much as she is trying to move on, she can't deny how she feels. Marinette sighs, she slows the spinning chair down to a halt and casts her gaze upon the ceiling. Is she really starting to feel the same about Chat Noir? Thinking about it, he's always been there for her, both in and out the suit. She looks forward to seeing him, he makes her laugh and he's there for her, supporting her. Not like Adrien has. The confused girl bites her lip, is she really starting to fall for Chat Noir? Why then, did he remind her of-
A knock startles her from her thoughts. Probably her parents wondering why she's wearing the floorboards again, she tells them to come in. The hatch lifts, but it's neither her mother's nor father's head who pops through, instead it's a mop of blonde hair, with piercing green eyes. She sees the very same boy who she was just thinking about.
"A-adrien?" She can't help but stutter, feeling her cheeks redden. She mentally curses herself, she's been doing so well getting over him, this is all your fault you damn Chat!
"Hey Marinette!" The teen smiles at her, still halfway through the hatch "your parents said I should go straight up…is that okay?"
He's such a gentleman! The young woman swoons, before snapping herself out of it. She's gotta focus, she made a resolution, now is the real test. Marinette smiles back at him, and nods and he fully comes into the room, looking around, observing the changes.
"Wow, looking good Mari!" He means it, the room is so her and he loves that but can't help but be disappointed that all the pictures she had of him are gone, is she not a fan anymore? He decides that it is not his place to ask and instead focuses on the reason he's here. He meets her eye again as she cutely stutters out a thanks, he missed that.
"Listen, Mari…there's something I have to tell you but if I do, please don't get mad"
She raises his eyebrows at his serious tone, and gestures towards her gaming desk where there are two chairs. He takes one and she sits next to him, matching his serious tone.
"I won't get mad at you Adrien, you can tell me anything"
He nods, a small smile appearing on his face before it disappears as he tries to find the right words.
"It's about…Lila"
Once her name is uttered, he immediately sees the bluenette haired girl tense, but she refrains from saying anything, letting him continue. Adrien has seen her sad expression in class before, but he has convinced himself over and over that he was doing the right thing. Now though, seeing the pain in her eyes just from hearing her name, he wants to beat his past self up for being so naive. He has to fix this, and he's not taking the easy way out this time.
"I.." he pauses, collecting himself "I'll start at the beginning. At first, I thought her lies were harmless and for that I am truly sorry Marinette. I have gone through many lies that fans or the media were saying about me and father always said, ignore them and they'll go away…and he was right"
Despite her sad expression, she nods, realising for the first time where he was coming from with his high-road mentality.
"So I thought surely, if we do nothing, she'll trip up or the class will get bored of her or something…" he shakes his head, angry at himself.
Seeing this, Marinette puts a comforting hand on his arm, letting him know she understands, and for that Adrien is grateful.
"But then, she got you expelled and I realised that nothing will change if I don't do something so I…I made a deal with her"
"You WHAT?!" she interrupts for the first time, unable to help herself, jerking herself away from him in shock. Adrien winces, knowing the worst of it is yet to come.
"I can't prove that she lies so I told her to make up a new lie, one that proves your innocence, in exchange for my friendship" He looks to the floor, unable to face what he is sure is an angry Marinette "I didn't care what happened to me, I just thought it would keep you safe but now I know she threatened you and that I was wrong and we have to do something and-"
"Adrien''. She cuts him off and puts a hand on top of his. "It's okay"
The boy slowly looks up, meeting her bluebell eyes, filled with patience, comfort and understanding. He feels an undeniable and familiar stirring in his heat, those eyes are his weakness.
"I didn't know…you..you did that for me, I would have stopped it". She sighs. "Then again, I did lose faith and I jumped to conclusions. I should have known something strange was going on and asked you about it, I'm sorry Adrien"
In response, Adrien puts his other hand on top of hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. The two look at eachother, both glad to have cleared things over. Once again, blue eyes meet green and a force indescribable to either of them is pulling them closer. Their noses touch, and they both simultaneously remember the hero who also holds their hearts. They yank away, red-faced and the spell is broken.
Adrien recovers first, he can't be rash about his new feelings. He doesn't deserve Mari's forgiveness, not yet. First, he must help dethrone the vixen queen. Then, he needs to talk to Ladybug. Tell her that yes, he loves her, and yes, there will always be a place in his heart for her but yes…he's falling for someone new. He clears his throat as his blush fades.
"So…what's the plan?"
"The…p-plan?" she repeats, confused.
He chuckles, she really is adorable. "Yes, for Lila, how will we take her down?"
Marinette blinks a couple of times, re-focusing herself after what almost just happened. Adrien is right, she needs to defeat the villains in her life, before any romance. Lila. Hawkmoth and then…maybe, just maybe, love. She nods, a plan forming in her mind.
"Okay, a Queen Bee is only as strong as her hive, so we need to get the class on our side one by one so she doesn't notice. For now, we need to act like nothing has changed"
Adrien furrows a brow in thought "okay, I'll start with Nino and you start with Alya"
The girl's expression darkens. "No, I've tried to tell her before but…she just thinks I'm jealous"
"You? Jealous?" He responds in shock "Of what?"
"Oh, you know, of all her accomplishments and stuff!" Marinette awkwardly clears her throat "Anyway! I'm too close to the situation, it's up to you Adrien. I'm afraid you'll have to take on most of the work, and I'm just a distraction"
The blonde nods, the large responsibility feels heavy on his shoulders while guilt is rising up at leaving Mari to be the distraction, is this how Ladybug feels?
"Lila is so focused on making me miserable and I'll use that to give you some alone time to talk with Nino, and I've got just the thing for it". Marinette walks across the room, pulling out a design for Jagged Stone's hat. "I'll use this as bait on Monday, it didn't work for his style so I made a different one, but she won't know that"
"Right!" Adrien adds eagerly "She'll claim it's her design but in a few weeks when the real one gets shown.."
Marinette smirks. "Exactly, it's not proof since she can come up with another lie of why her design wasn't shown, but, it'll give us enough time for you to sow doubt with the class, and this will be the final blow. We'll have to set up a weekly meetup to see how things are progressing as we won't be able to talk in school without it being suspicious".
"Perfect! I already thought that maybe you can design something for me? And we could use that to meet up and talk about Operation Vixen Takedown"
Mari nods eagerly with a bright smile which makes Adrien reluctant to leave but he has one more person he needs to confront today…his father. "See you on Monday then?"
The girl nods, and as he stands up to leave, pulls him into a hug. Once he's gone, Marinette falls into her bed. As happy as she is to finally have her friend back, and not be alone in her fight with Lila, she can't help but feel guilty about one other boy who seems to have a grasp on her heart.
"But what about Chat then?" she wonders aloud.
Tikki giggles, finally coming out of her hiding place "You teenagers take everything so seriously! You're not committed and it's not cheating, you can get to know both of them and then decide!"
Marinette blinks at this in surprise, letting the words sink in before smiling confidently.
"You're right Tikki, Adrien and I have a plan now, and I'm sure I'll get to know him better now we're meeting up weekly. As for Chat, defeating Hawkmoth comes first, then we can figure out how we feel"
She trails off, making sure her blinds are closed before transforming into Ladybug, she calls him on the phone, leaving a message. She upgraded their tech as one of her first acts of Guardian, now whenever they send each other messages, there's a small vibration of the miraculous so only the wearer can feel or hear it. That way even when they are de-transformed, they know that their partner is trying to contact them.
"Chat, it's time we figure out who Hawkmoth is, and take the fight to him, meet me at the Eiffel tower!"