A/N: I've been in a bit of a writing slump lately, so for the first time ever, I'm giving Flufftober a try to see if it sparks some inspiration. I'll probably be writing for a few different fandoms, but the first prompt, Eye Contact, seemed to work well for Miraculous Ladybug. This idea is actually adapted from a plot point I was working into a longer story of mine called Dark Waltz. If I ever get back to working on that fic, you'll probably see something similar to this play out in there.
Anyway, please enjoy!
It hadn't seemed that important to Marinette at the time...
She'd been one step above him on the stairs. He'd been one step below her, putting them at perfect eye level. They'd made eye contact for only a brief moment, but in the days that followed, she'd found herself incapable of thinking about anything else...
It had all started a week prior. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been fighting a history teacher from a lycee that had taken on the name of De-Mask-Us once akumatized. Half way into the fight, they'd both been hit by an attack that caused them to de-transform. Ladybug had blamed herself for the whole mess. She'd been careless and rushed, anxious to get the fight over with so she could get back to the weekend outing she'd planned with her friends. As a result, she'd underestimated her opponent and her timing had been sloppy. When she threw the quill pen her Lucky Charm had produced at De-Mask-Us' magical scroll, he'd easily parried it with a flick of his wrist. She'd turned to retrieve the pen that had skidded under a nearby desk, realizing too late that her actions had given De-Mask-Us an opening. She'd been watching the scroll unfurl and lash towards her in a wave of sparkling light, dread filling her as she realized there was no time to move and nowhere to hide. Then suddenly, Chat Noir had leapt in front of her, knocking her to the ground and dissolving the ground beneath them with his cataclysm, just as the wave of light had washed over them both.
They landed in the darkened theater room on the floor below, a pile of prop mats and costumes somewhat cushioning their landing. Chat Noir took the brunt of the fall, having twisted them around in the air so she'd land on top of him, but with no magical suits to dull their injuries, they both had the wind knocked out of them pretty severely, and for a moment they merely laid there, a tangle of limbs with fabric and hair in their faces gasping for breath. As soon as Marinette came to her senses and realized she was no longer disguised and was lying on top of her equally undisguised partner, she lunged to her feet, while simultaneously throwing the nearest piece of fabric over his head.
"Don't look!" she yelled frantically, her own eyes squeezed shut until she had turned her back to him completely. She then started to frantically rifle through the pile of costumes beneath her in search of a suitable disguise.
She heard him hiss in pain as he rolled to his side away from her. "Are you hurt, m'lady?" he asked, and she flinched, suddenly feeling guilty that the first thing she'd said to him was a hastily barked order not to look, rather than an inquiry about his well-being, or an apology for her carelessness, or a thank you for his quick actions and the way he'd broken her fall.
"I-I'm fine. Are you?" she asked, shame faced.
"All good," he responded, and for a moment she despaired over whether or not he was telling her the truth. "Guess cats don't always land on their feet. Lucky I have several lives to spare though."
"Although you're not a cat at the moment, and I'm not so lucky," she said a bit miserably.
"Considering where we just landed, and the fact that De-Mask-Us is too preoccupied chasing his students at the moment to come after us, I'd say you bring us more than enough luck even without your Miraculous. Besides, there's this…" he said as he tossed an object over his shoulder.
Marinette was relieved and amused when a jeweled and feathered scarlet colored mask landed directly in her lap. "Perfect!" she proclaimed. It was quite garish, but it would do the trick nonetheless. She quickly fastening it around her face before yanking a red, full length Victorian style dress from the clothing pile to match. She put the dress on over her clothes in a hurry, telling herself it was just an extra pre-caution. She didn't think anyone would recognize her based on her regular clothing alone, but she wasn't about to take any chances. Besides, she figured if they got caught again and lost their temporary costume masks, they could just pretend they were part of the theater club, rather than Paris' famous superhero duo.
"You good?" she called to her partner over her shoulder.
"Just about," he said, as his voice became temporarily muffled behind the rustling sound of fabric. "What's the plan?"
She made her way over to the nearest door and peaked her head out, checking to see if the coast was clear. "I think De-Mask-Us must have our kwamis wrapped up in that magical scroll of his. If I can just find the quill pen again from my Lucky Charm, I can still destroy his scroll. But I'll need you to create some kind of… uh… distraction…" she trailed off the moment he stepped into her line of sight.
He was dressed in black, from head to toe, which was hardly anything new, but something about the slight difference in the style of his costume left her temporarily befuddled. Black pants, black boots, black mask, nothing was new there, but the black bandana around his head that replaced his cat ears was different, and the billowing black peasant style shirt open and dipping fairly low at his neck was definitely something new. For a moment she considered how strange it was that she'd never actually seen her partner's exposed neck before. That in itself was a distracting thought, but what really preoccupied her was the fact that he resembled someone…
"You look like that guy from The Princess Bride," she mused out loud.
The comment instantly brought a smile to his lips, and he puffed out his chest while striking a dramatic pose in response. "His name's Westley, and he's awesome!"
Marinette already knew that, of course. The Princess Bride was one of her all-time favorite movies. She'd seen it about a hundred times, and as a child, she'd had a major crush on Westley. Of course, she would rather die than admit something like that to her partner. Especially considering he resembled the character just a little too well.
"Aren't you overdoing it with the fake mustache and the prop sword though? Where did you even find that stuff?"
He pouted slightly in response to her comment, but carried on with his regular antics nonetheless. "Actually, I think the sword might come in handy, and I'm nothing if not thorough, m'lady. Want me to find you a blonde wig? Then you could be my princess," he said with his typical playful smirk.
What wasn't typical was the reaction she had to that smirk, as something within her stomach bottomed out, and somewhere in the deep recesses of her mind, a seven year old Marinette was practically squealing in response to the all too perfect fulfillment of her childhood fantasies. Outwardly, Marinette merely swallowed roughly, glancing down at her dress briefly and feeling a twinge of disappointment when she was forced to admit that other than her dress being red, it bore hardly any resemblance to Buttercup's dress from the movie. Marinette looked more like someone attending a masquerade ball in a cheap, historically inaccurate Victorian era Halloween costume than anything else.
"Don't be ridiculous," she said, trying to sound pragmatic. "We don't need to match. Besides, I look nothing like her."
"True. You're far more beautiful," he said while giving her a flourishing bow that ended with him grasping her fingertips lightly and pressing a brief kiss to her knuckles. She squeaked in response and snapped her hand away almost immediately, resolutely ignoring the seven year old Marinette in her head that was sighing dramatically. It wasn't often that Chat Noir had that kind of an effect on her, but dang did he look good in that costume.
"L-Let's just get this over with. You're way too exposed like th-… I mean we! We're way too exposed without our transformations." Shaking her head to try and get control of her focus she pushed the door open all the way and made a quick dash for the stairs.
"Wait!" he said, his hand grabbing her own.
She turned around, already on the first step of the stairs and was a bit startled to find that they were standing at eye level for once. She could tell it stunned him a bit as well, because his eyes suddenly grew wider and his pupils dilated, his mouth falling open slightly as a flush tinged his cheeks. Whatever he'd meant to say had somehow been forgotten.
Trying her best to act natural, she forced herself to roll her eyes and let out a huff of air in mock exasperation. "What is it?" she asked. "We don't have all day!"
"Oh, uh… I uh… Your hair," he said finally reaching up and pulling the ties out of her pigtails one by one. "It's kind of a giveaway," he finished lamely with a shrug.
She swallowed hard and nodded, trying not to make it obvious that his nearness when she wasn't transformed made her feel strangely vulnerable. "Good call. Now can we get going please?"
Seemingly recovered, he flashed her his insufferable, playful grin, stepping up beside her and towering over her once again before leaning down briefly to whisper, "As you wish."
Then he darted off ahead of her to rejoin the fight, and deep within the recesses of her mind, seven year old Marinette melted into a puddle of goo.
In the days following their fight with De-Mask-Us, it wasn't Chat Noir's words, or the fact that he'd looked surprisingly good in his costume that Marinette had reflected upon. Instead, it was the brief, seemingly insignificant moment where she'd turned to face him on the stairs.
She'd been one step above. He'd been one step below, putting them at perfect eye level.
At the time, the rush of adrenaline that always accompanied a battle had caused her to overlook so many things, like the flush of his cheeks and the feel of his de-gloved hand grasping at her own. In fact, she'd made it a point to not notice any details about him, especially things like the exact shade of his eyes when they weren't obscured behind the atomic green lens of his regular mask.
But as time went on, she found these details were things she was incapable of ignoring. There was always a nagging sensation plaguing her, telling her she'd forgotten something very important, and at night, his eyes seemed to haunt her dreams where she found herself frantically searching for the face that matched them. A part of her desperately wanted to pull at the thread of her memory, and see where her reflections would take her, but her sense of responsibility urged her to push it all aside.
Making eye contact… It hadn't seemed that important at the time… But something within her knew it was the most important detail of all…
She'd been one step above him on the stairs. He'd been one step below, putting them at perfect eye level.
It had seemed incredibly important to Adrien at the time.
So important in fact that he'd found the words he'd wanted to say to her momentarily struck from his mind as he stood there stupidly mute in front of her for far too long. He'd only snapped out of his stupor when she'd grown frustrated and told him to stop wasting time.
And then he'd stolen her hair ties (which he'd forgotten maybe/probably on purpose to return later) and relied on old movie quotes as a means of flirtation before rushing back into the fight, all the while screaming inside because for a moment, he'd been sure there was something there between them. Something she'd seen and felt too. Something in the way their skin tingled when their palms touched, and something in the way their eyes had sparked at the contact, to life and to recognition.
He'd felt more than his usual attraction to her then. He'd felt a connection, a completeness, like a large piece of a puzzle had suddenly fallen into place, and the universe was calling for him to seek out the rest of the pieces. The mystery had kept him distracted for days, which was probably why he'd procrastinated on finishing his history report until the absolute last minute.
He'd been telling Nino about the whole unfortunate situation right before the start of Madame Bustier's class. Under normal circumstances, writing a report in one night wouldn't have been much of a problem for Adrien. Unfortunately, he'd been having trouble finding a book that the entire subject of his report hinged upon. The book was some obscure history text that theorized that many of history's greatest tragedies and triumphs had been caused by supernatural beings, some of which Adrien suspected had been Miraculous holders. The book had unfortunately been discredited by most experts and as a result it had fallen into obscurity over the years, which was why Adrien had been having such a hard time tracking it down. He'd been relieved to find his own school library had a copy, but when he went to pick it up, he'd been dismayed to find someone else had already checked it out.
"Tough luck, dude," Nino said as Madame Bustier entered the room and demanded everyone's attention. For the rest of the day Adrien did his best to focus on his teachers and put his worries about the report and his musings about Ladybug out of his mind. But when the final bell rang, he was overwhelmed again with dread, regrettably deciding that his only choice was to start the report over from scratch and write about something else.
"Maybe I can pick a subject that will make use of some of the research I already did..." he muttered as he filed out of his classroom with the rest of his classmates.
"A-Adrien, wait!" a voice called, interrupting his thoughts. A hand reached out to grab his own, causing him to stop on the stairs and turn around. Then suddenly he was struck with a sense of déjà vu.
She was one step above him on the stairs. He was one step below. Their eyes were at level, and in that instant the world around him stopped.
How was it possible that he'd never noticed that Marinette's eyes were the most exquisite, uncommon shade of blue? Why had he never noticed that they were the exact shade he'd seen countless times before? How could she possibly have the same blue eyes that haunted all his hopes and dreams?
"It's me," she breathed out and his own eyes went wide.
"I-It is?" he asked. He wasn't exactly sure what she was trying to say, but her words must have meant something to him on a deeper, instinctual level, because without meaning to, his hand closed tightly around her own as if unwilling to let her slip away from him and he couldn't deny that there was a familiar tingling sensation where their palms met.
His reaction seemed to startle her though, and she gasped, breaking eye contact with him in favor of looking down at their hands. "I-I book I mean t-t-the me, that you were looking for."
He regained his senses the second she looked away from him and dropped her hand, feeling more than a bit awkward. He rubbed at the back of his neck for a second sheepishly and listened to Marinette as she babbled on, trying his best to figure out what she was talking about. "You… Have something I'm looking for?" he asked.
"Yes," she sounded relived and after shaking her head resolutely her words started to come out more clearly. "The history book you need for your report. I'm the one that checked it out. It's at my house if you want to borrow it."
"Really?" he asked. "That would be amazing! But don't you need it?"
"No, no," she said waving her hands dismissively. "It's totally fine. I'm already done with it anyway!"
"You're a lifesaver, Marinette! Thank you! I uh, have fencing now, but can I swing by your place afterwards and pick it up?"
"Sure thing! Come by anytime!" Marinette's face broke into a brilliant smile, causing her eyes to sparkle which kindled a nagging sensation in his mind that told him he was overlooking something important. But before he could put his finger on it she was stumbling down the stairs away from him. "I'll see you later, Adrien!" Marinette said before almost knocking over a trashcan and darting out of the school.
As Adrien watched her disappear he found himself pondering one of the greatest mysteries of his life… How was it possible, that the unique blue eyes that belonged to Ladybug alone, were somehow also Marinette's?
He tried his best not to think about it. He knew Ladybug wouldn't want him to think about it. But that didn't stop him from bypassing his driver after fencing practice by transforming into Chat Noir and hightailing it directly to Marinette's house so he could further investigate. He dropped his transformation in the alley outside of their bakery and made his way inside.
Marinette's parents seemed genuinely excited to see him. Mrs. Dupain-Cheng told him he could head straight up to Marinette's room while Mr. Dupain slipped him a plate of cookies to take with him. It warmed Adrien's heart how they were always so nice to him.
When he knocked on Marinette's trap-door he heard a crash followed by frantic whispering, before she called out for him to come in. He opened the door cautiously, not sure what he'd find after hearing that crash moments before, but Marinette was simply sitting at her desk, looking nervous, but no worse for wear.
"Hey Marinette," he said. "I hope now is an okay time?"
"You're perfect. I-I mean you're fine. No! I mean…" she paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "Now's fine."
He laughed slightly and handed her the plate of cookies which she accepted with a smile. She put it down on the desk and then almost immediately knocked it off the edge when she reached across the desk for a book near the wall. "Here's the book you wanted. It was really very interesting! There are so many strange occurrences throughout history that the author attributes to supernatural phenomenon."
He took the book from her with gratitude but felt panic sink in the moment he noticed how heavy it was. It was going to take him forever to find anything of relevance in such a thick book. He flipped the book open to check the table of contents and immediately noticed a dozen or so pink post it notes sticking out from different pages. "What are these for?" he asked.
"Oh! I went ahead and marked the relevant chapters for you. Your report is on Miraculous users found throughout history, right?"
"How'd you know that?"
"Oh, uh, I think Nino mentioned it or something. Who knows!" she said a little too quickly. "But anyway, enough about that… In the majority of the book, the author talks a lot about events that he believes were influenced by aliens, ghosts, voodoo, and other random stuff like that. But in the chapters I marked, he talks about 'those blessed by gods,' which seem to be the most likely references to Miraculous holders."
"Wow Marinette, that's… Incredible. I can't believe you went through all that trouble for me. Thank you."
"Oh, no, no, no, it was no trouble at all. Besides, I was writing about Miraculous holders too, so I already knew which chapters would be helpful."
"Really? That's so cool! Can I read it when you're done?"
"S-Sure. As long as I can read yours too. I actually finished mine last night. You can take a copy with you if you'd like. Maybe it will help you write your own," she said while reaching into her bag and pulling out her report. "The stories I wrote about were really interesting. I'm not sure I did them much justice but..."
She looked up at him as she handed him her papers, and the second their eyes met her sentence stuttered to a stop. His own eyes grew wide as he felt that twinge or recognition again, and not wanting to dismiss the feeling he took the opportunity to look closer. The shape and mesmerizing sapphire blue color of her eyes certainly appeared to be the same as Ladybug's, and her cheeks appeared to have the same pattern of freckles. Not to mention, she had a pair of round black earrings that he'd never seen her take off...
Marinette seemed to be searching his face as well, trying to piece things together, but there was a fear overtaking her gaze that he wanted so badly to erase. When her eyes darted down to the ring on his finger, he was almost positive... But she was already backing away by the time he started to ask, "M-Marinette, are you…"
"Cookies!" she suddenly exclaimed, turning her back on him and reaching for the plate he'd brought up. "You should have some before you leave…" as she scrambled for the plate her elbow hit her keyboard, bringing her computer monitor to life.
They both froze, staring at the screen for a moment. Marinette looked horrified. Adrien was merely amused. "Hmmm. You're watching The Princess Bride? That's... Very interesting..."
"W-What do you mean? It's a really good movie, and I like to have something on in the background while I sketch or sew or do homework..." She was laughing nervously and babbling again. If he didn't know it was all meant to distract him from what he wanted to ask her he would have found it adorable.
"I know it's a good movie," he said. "It's one of my favorites actually, but that's not..."
"Do you want to watch it then?" she asked abruptly.
"S-Sure, but I..."
"Oh, gee, what am I thinking. You probably have to rush home to work on your report!"
"No, I can stay a little longer, but first..."
"Great!" she said with fake enthusiasm as she pulled up a second chair for him. "Do you want me to start it over?"
"No, this is fine." He noticed she had paused the movie right before Westley's fight with Inigo Montoya. "This is actually one of my favorite scenes." That was a bit of a lie. His favorite scenes all involved Westley and Buttercup, but the fencing scenes were definitely a close second.
"Makes sense," she laughed. "Fencing is kind of your thing, isn't it?"
"Kind of... Look, Marinette, can we just talk for a second..."
"We should definitely watch it!" she interrupted firmly. "We should just... Sit and watch the movie and eat the cookies and then you can take my report home with you and read it, or not, whatever you want, and when you're done with your report you can let me read it because I'm sure it'll be amazing... Because everything... everything... you do is amazing. And... And we'll see each other at school just like always and..."
He sighed heavily, taking pity on her. She looked like she was about to have a panic attack. He tried not to take her fear personally, because if he thought about it, he wasn't particularly surprised by her reaction. After all, Ladybug had never wanted them to reveal their identities to each other. She'd said it was too dangerous and that it would put them both at risk. It didn't mean he wasn't important to her. It didn't mean she didn't trust him... Or at least that's what he tried to convince himself.
He knew he had two choices. He could push the issue, forcing them to acknowledge the discovery that he was almost certain of and deal with the repercussions of that decision. Or he could trust her, and follow her lead just like he always did. He could give her what she wanted. He could sit beside her and watch the movie. They could eat cookies and quote their favorite lines and laugh and smile without meeting each other's eyes and go about their lives like usual pretending that nothing had changed...
"Is that really what you want, Marinette?"
She hesitated. She actually hesitated, and in that moment when he hung in purgatory, his heart stalled and his thoughts filled with so much hope, the fulfillment of all his dreams hinging on the whims of his lady... But in the end, her shoulders slumped in defeat and she turned away from him sadly, and he wasn't surprised, because a part of him had always known what her answer would be.
"Yes Adrien. Right now... There's nothing I'd rather do than sit and watch a movie with you."
He gave her a sad smile, because at least her admission had been something, but all the things he wanted to tell her still clawed in the back of his throat. But for her sake he bottled it all up inside and merely whispered, "As you wish..."
A/N: I'm sorry to say this didn't end the way I'd originally planned. Marinette just had to freak out on me there at the end. Hopefully it's for the best! Either way, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!