'Why now though?'
The question had been running through the blonde's head since the teen informed him that Ladybug trusted him with Marinette's hero identity. The young man wanted to ask, but he could almost put the pieces together himself. It was not like Ladybug was likely to have told his friend about the actual reasonings behind entrusting her with a Miraculous.
'Rena must have said something about my annoyance at them becoming closer.'
And subsequently the red and black spotted hero then decided to show her trust by giving the only person, whose identity he was supposed to know, the Miraculous back. It was not likely Ladybug knew that was also the person who knew his identity though…
'Maybe Rena told her I knew who she was beneath the mask, and instead of telling Alya she couldn't be a hero anymore, she decided to let Marinette be part of the team again… I hope she's another permanent holder! That would be awesome!'
Adrien had just returned home after school. For a Monday, everything was pretty normal, but the tiredness he was experiencing after his travels, and subsequent rooftop running, meant that the blonde failed to be very engaging. He was lucky that Marinette had been the one next to him during class, as Adrien was sure Nino would have not even noticed him falling asleep at the desk. She understood: they had been running around Paris for the whole of Sunday afternoon together. The only issue Adrien had though, was he did not manage to ask her out on a date officially, and he did promise to show her what a 'hot date' was…
…but the ravenette continued to keep him too busy while they were out in their masks, not that the blonde was complaining.
The timing still irked him though, and that was not the only thing.
During his trip to London, his father had been much more heavily involved in the shoots he partook in. Adrien felt rather out of his comfort zone too, as the black ensembles he was dressed in were more geared towards an older look. Gone was the radiant and carefree angle they had adopted when he was a couple of years younger, and 'endless possibilities' had taken front and centre.
The attire had been tighter, the lighting was edgier, the set was cooler… and not in the temperature sense. The whole reason Adrien was able to spend so much time with Felix had been because the British national possessed a different attitude: an attitude that would apparently transfer the new message across much easier in adverts. The blonde was not stupid, he knew as he aged that his image would evolve to appeal to a new demographic: a demographic that was more geared around sex appeal as opposed to 'radiant, carefree and dreamy'.
Adrien Agreste was about to enter his late teens, he was on the cusp of his prime modelling years: the company needed to make sure they used him to the best of their ability in the small timeframe that would follow. The blonde was not exactly happy about it, but it was not going to be forever, and that was exactly why things were changing now. The face of the Gabriel brand was informed that he had a photo shoot coming up, and his father was going to continue his new found helicopter-parenting style by being present on set. Nathalie seemed slightly on edge when she informed Adrien of his father's presence at the upcoming shoot, but the blonde was not concerned. If anything, having the older Agreste more involved would hopefully give them more chance to see each other, and Adrien thought that could end up being a good thing for their relationship.
After his Chinese tutor left the mansion, and the blonde set up a previous recording of an almost perfect piano practise, he bolted out of the window for patrol. The teen wanted to ask Ladybug why she had chosen now to trust Marinette with a Miraculous, and with Rena Rouge having time scheduled with his ravenette classmate, the black clad hero surmised they would have the privacy for her to hopefully be honest with him.
Ladybug could see that Chat was sceptical with her explanation as to why her civilian self had been randomly given a Miraculous.
"So you're saying," the blonde began to sum up with one arm crossed over his chest and his other elbow resting on it so he could tap his chin. "That you randomly gave Multi Mouse the Miraculous back, just in case you need to use her in a future battle, even though you normally just give them out when they're needed?" He shifted his weight and cocked a hip while pursing his lips in irritated thought. "It just doesn't fit the trend."
Ladybug held her hands out in a pleading way, the heroine was irritated that her partner had not just taken her explanation at face value, and could see that the rift was much wider than she had originally anticipated. "I uh, was hoping to try~ something new. Yeah!" The heroine nodded her head before beginning to gesture widely with her hands. "The only reason I didn't let her have the Miraculous after last time was because you saw who she was, but I'm shaking things up a little. If Multi Mouse has a little more experience then she will be able to use her Miraculous-"
"If I remember correctly," the hero interrupted his partner, "she had no issue the first time, not only did Multi Mouse have control of all those other Miraculous', but she also saved both of our bums." Chat clicked his tongue with annoyance, "wouldn't her abilities have allowed for her to keep her Miraculous-"
Ladybug sighed with exasperation. "Chat I need to stop you there." Rubbing her forehead, the heroine deflated, "I wanted to show that I trusted you."
"But you couldn't have just kept me in the loop?"
Ladybug rolled her lips and failed to make eye contact, "I promise everything will make sense."
"I want the truth Ladybug," Chat replied harshly before sighing with disappointment, "not empty promises."
Before the red and black heroine could say anything further, the black clad hero quickly unsheathed his baton and vaulted off across the rooftops. She was not worried about him turning up at her house, as a ribbon had been tied securely to her railings. Ladybug just hoped that she could fix this mess before the rift became irreparable.
After not hearing anything from Adrien after his meeting with her masked-self the night before, Marinette made her way to school wondering what kind of mood he would be in. As most mornings, Alya was waiting for her on the steps of the school alongside Nino, and the couple seemed to be in a very heated discussion which ceased as soon as Marinette got within ear shot. Alya huffed and shook her head at her boyfriend which immediately shut down the conversation, and the only inclination Marinette had of what was going on was the nervous glance she received from the DJ.
"Hey guys," Marinette greeted warily, "is everything okay?"
Alya quickly shot back, "tell you about it later, Adrien's waiting to speak to you in class, we'll be in in a minute."
Completely taken aback, the ravenette quickly glanced between the two, "o~kay, I'll uh, see you in class then." Making her way up the remaining steps, Marinette looked back over her shoulder to see Alya and Nino back in a quietly heated discussion, and wondered if it was part of the aftermath of Nino being the one to 'out' them both to Chat Noir. Dread began to pool in the pit of her stomach, and Marinette was suddenly feeling really nervous about seeing her blonde seatmate.
"…so you're okay with it?"
"I don't really have a choice, do I Lila?"
"I am sorry about that last time, and I have apol-"
Marinette watched from halfway down the steps as Adrien held up his hand to shut the Italian up. The blonde seemed to be on the verge of blowing a gasket, and the teen wondered if last night's exchange was contributing to his mood. He was standing outside of their classroom and it looked as if Adrien had been coming to meet her, only to be accosted by Lila on the way.
"The truth is, Lila," Adrien's green eyes cut to connect with Marinette's for a split second, before he glared down his nose at a very nervous looking Lila, "I don't trust you. I don't think I ever will in all honesty, and I'd rather not have you as my pairing at the shoot tonight."
The dread in Marinette's stomach suddenly felt like a boulder of horror had been dropped right in the middle of it. She was aware that her mouth had dropped open, and failed to close it, even when Lila turned and caught her staring. A smirk crossed the brunette's face momentarily and then morphed into an apologetic expression. The Italian took a step down towards Marinette and it was obvious her display of sincerity was completely fake.
"I know I have really damaged your perception of me, Adrien," she said with convincing sincerity while continuing to look at Marinette, "but I'm sure we can put that aside to work together professionally." She winked at Marinette before glancing back over her shoulder at the blonde, "we do need to be believable after all…"
Marinette's jaw clenched shut, and she could feel her heart rate increasing and blood boiling as Adrien scowled at the insincere teen when she faced Marinette once more.
"It's only a kiss, it's no big deal." The secret heroine's eyes widened as Marinette searched Lila's amused green orbs briefly before the Italian sauntered back up towards class. "See you on set tonight."
'You little-'
Marinette's internal cuss was cut off by Adrien whispering her nickname, and her eyes immediately found his green. The anger had disappeared and all that was left was complete hopelessness shining out to accompany his defeated demeanour.
"This was her game all along," Adrien sighed as his posture slumped, "she wanted back into my shoots and now I'm being paired with her for this new campaign." Marinette slid her hand into the one that the blonde outstretched towards her and stood at the top of the staircase with him, "what am I going to do?"
Marinette shook her head slowly while her breathing became shaky, the blonde kept a tight hold of her hand as he raked his unoccupied hand down his face. "Ca-can you spalk-talk to your father?"
It was Adrien's turn to shake his head while he muttered, "this is the last thing I need right now."
Dark eyebrows knitted together as Marinette peered up at him with concern, "what else is-"
"It doesn't matter right now," the blonde's green eyes darkened briefly as they searched between Marinette's blue, "we need to get to class."
Adrien did not let Marinette's hand go until they both needed to take notes and complete their tasks; even then the teen heartthrob kept minimal distance between them. Usually the ravenette would be comfortable, as them being close was becoming the norm, but there was an awful lot of tension being held in Adrien's frame.
When lunch finally came around, Marinette wasted no time in whisking him away from their peers and quickly bypassed the waiting sedan. There was a quiet little bistro down the street that they could have some privacy in, and that was just what they needed. Marinette worried that they would not be able to find a table, but the maître d' took one look at the blonde, whose hand was still entwined with hers, and they were promptly seated in a booth at the back of the establishment.
Marinette assumed Adrien would have sat opposite her, but was surprised when the blonde refused to leave her side and slid in next to her. They ordered quickly and fell into an uncomfortable silence. The ravenette was debating just how to start up the much needed conversation with Adrien when the model spoke in barely a whisper.
"Why was Ladybug visiting you last night?"
"What?"
Since his conversation with the red and black heroine of Paris last night had left the blonde in a foul mood, it took the teen longer than he would care to admit for him to cool down. The teen hero had checked his baton to see if Rena was visiting Marinette, and found that the fox themed heroine was not currently transformed. Arriving at Marinette's balcony however, had showed him why:
There was a ribbon clearly tied to her railing for Rena to see.
Chat debated knocking anyway though, that was until he saw Ladybug's icon coming his way, but stopping short of the rooftop he had been perched on. Glancing in the direction of where his baton showed she was, the blonde was shocked to see the dark haired heroine casually open the trap door and disappear inside. The hero stuck around, waiting to see when she would exit, only to see her icon vanish from his screen.
Adrien knew immediately that he needed to speak to Marinette face to face.
There were too many secrets being kept from him, and she was the last person he thought would be hiding things from him.
"Why was Ladybug visiting you last night?" Adrien asked again, and regretted how harsh he sounded when he saw Marinette wince away from him and detach her hand from his. The blonde took a few breaths, and spoke softer when speaking after she failed to answer his question. "Look, I know she was there because I saw on my baton when I checked to see if Rena was with you."
Adrien glanced around to see if there was anyone who could possibly be listening to their conversation, but the patrons surrounding them were all occupied with either perusing the menu or their own conversations. He reached out for her hand again, and felt the teen beside him tense up before allowing the contact between them again.
"Please, I just need to know what's going on. All this… being kept in the dark," he gestured outwardly with his hand, "is not doing me any good, and I really thought-"
"You're not gonna like me after this."
Adrien leaned forward to catch the ravenette's gaze as she stared at the table in front of her. Her eyes were glassy as they continued to focus on nothing in particular and Adrien leaned back but put his fingers under her chin, bringing her face to look directly at him. She was so close, and the blonde could see the tears beginning to pool in her eyes as she finally met his gaze. Marinette looked hesitantly between his orbs, and the teen needed to reassure her that she was wrong.
"Don't say that Marinette," he rested his forehead against hers while cupping her cheek and wiping away a tear which managed to escape her eyes. "Just tell me the truth, please?"
The dark haired beauty took a deep breath and closed her eyes while rolling her lips nervously. A silence passed between them where Marinette seemed reluctant to speak, and Adrien was about to reassure her again while he brushed another tear from her cheek until she finally spoke.
"This is all my fault."
Adrien brought his other hand up so he was tenderly holding her face mere inches from his. "No, it really isn't. What's so ba-"
"Adrien! What is the meaning of this?"
Sorry for disappearing for a while, I'm still nowhere near 100% but hipefully I'm gonna continue to make progress. Thank you for reading, and I will hopefully be posting again soon.
Take it easy!
Lady Rhi X
