So I have a bunch of oneshots written for Ladybug that I never posted because….I don't know why. But I'll just put them all collectively in this story since everyone seemed to really like this one. I might eventually write their date from the previous chapter ;) They WON'T be in chronological order, though. So I'll probably just list the ages and where it relates in the storyline?
The last chapter they were seventeen/eighteen. This one they're fifteen/sixteen.
He never really noticed Marinette like that until maybe a year and a half, two years after they met. They were fifteen, going on sixteen, and he'd gotten used to her presence within the group as the other "third wheel." She was still shy and sweet, but he noticed her confidence around him gaining traction slowly as she was able to joke with him just a hair more than before. The stutter was still prominent most of the time, but he noticed when she was feeling particularly sassy, she'd whip at quip out at him without a single misstep.
But when Marinette had started seeing someone, he noticed it big time. He was now the odd one out in their outings. Nino had Alya, Ivan had Mylene, Juleka and Rose. It had always been him and Marinette as the odd ones out, so he never felt it like this before. It didn't hit him until the first time she didn't join them.
"Where's Marinette?" he asked, looking around at the others around him.
"My girl has a date," Alya beamed, and he didn't miss the look that passed over her face for a second. She looked almost smug.
"With who?" he caught himself blurting out before he could control his mouth.
"My brother," Juleka sighed. "It's kind of gross if you ask me."
"Why, because he's older?" Nino laughed. "He's only seventeen, how much more mature is he? I don't think it's a bad match."
"No, because he's my brother…"
"They're so cute together," Rose gushed, clasping her hands together and bouncing on her toes. "We helped her get ready, she's adorable. She wore this pretty lavender skirt with a pink polka-dotted blouse tucked in. And oh the black cropped jacket that she made to match the boots!" She shoved her sulking girlfriend gently. "Be happy for Marinette and your brother, Juleka!"
Juleka only sighed.
"It's not like they're getting married," Alya laughed.
Adrien blinked at the group around him, all talking about how excited and happy they were for Marinette, but he felt strange, because he didn't share the sentiment. He wanted to be excited for her, but couldn't bring himself to do much more than smile politely. The whole evening was pockmarked by her noticeable absence, and he found himself wishing he was at home, mindlessly following his father's commands in solitude.
"Dude, jealous much?" Nino whispered, jabbing him lightly in the ribs as the group started to migrate towards the restaurant for lunch. "You've been quieter than usual."
"I'm not jealous," he muttered back, hands jammed in the pockets of his jacket. "Just thinking."
"About what, dude?" Nino asked, a knowing smirk on his face that Adrien wished he could wipe off with a witty comment. If his mask was on, he was sure the increased confidence from the miraculous would have given him the perfect retort.
"I don't know, just the thought of Marinette dating someone. Never really crossed my mind. She's so…quiet."
"Around you, maybe," Nino chuckled. "You know she had a thing for you, right?"
"What?" Adrien's eyes darted up towards his friend, his mind reeling. He caught on pretty quickly that his social skills were seriously lacking, and he was quickly trying to scramble to keep up and learn all the behavioral norms and social cues that the others had had since preschool to learn. While Chloe had made it painfully obvious of her feelings towards him, it still took him months to figure it out.
"Man, I knew you didn't know," Nino grinned. "Alya swears Marinette is over it, so it won't be weird unless you make it weird. Was just curious if you ever caught on."
"Who else knew?" he dared to ask.
He snorted. "Everyone but you, bro."
"But she's over it?" he clarified slowly.
Nino lifted a shoulder. "S'what Alya claims, and she knows Marinette the best, I guess…"
"Well that's…" What? He couldn't think of a good word for it. Good? No, he honestly felt a little disappointed. He changed direction instead of finishing that thought, or dwelling on what that disappointment meant. "She finally seems comfortable around me at least."
"Might have something to do with it," Nino shrugged, holding the door to the restaurant open for his friend. "But you never know, sometimes you can reignite old feelings."
The wink Nino sent him as he passed made Adrien want to turn around and head home. "Dude, she should have said something to me, that's all I'm saying. I can't help what I don't know."
"So you're saying you would have asked her out?" Adrien jumped as Alya appeared next to him and she laughed at the startled expression. "Sorry, but you boys aren't as quiet as you think you are."
"You just have that psycho journalist hearing, babe," Nino grumbled, pushing her by both shoulders towards the table. "Leave him alone."
"I mean, hypothetically—"
"I don't know," Adrien cut her off gently. "We'll never know now." He frowned down at the menu in his hands now, letting the others fall into gentle chatter as they waited for their server. He had never wanted to be alone more than right then. And he didn't even know why.
-x-
Lucky for him—as scarce as that luck was—it was a patrol day. After a year or so, they'd decided to run the city three times a week for several reasons. They were getting tired of sitting around, waiting for Hawkmoth to make a move. So they tried to figure out where he was operating from. Also, it gave them time to scope the city and make sure all was well while keeping themselves as fine tuned as they could between akuma—which varied constantly. Their longest pause had been two months; their shortest was only a few hours.
They always met at the top of the tower when the evening lights came to life. He was lying across a beam on his stomach, his arms and legs dangling off on either side.
"Aw, what's the matter, Kitty?" Ladybug moved to sit next to him. He didn't even lift his head to look at her. "Tired?"
"No," he sighed. "I don't know. I've just been in a meh mood lately."
"Why?" she asked, cocking her head. She swung her legs and looked down at the ground beneath them. The sun was setting behind the buildings and it cast long, dark shadows across the square where people were hurrying to head home for the night. "Something happen?"
"Nothing that should be significant to me," he grumbled vaguely, keeping to their unspoken code of giving away nothing too personal. He pushed himself upright, facing her and straddling the beam. "Does it make me a bad person if I'm not happy for someone?"
Ladybug frowned. "I mean, as long as you're not hoping something bad happens to them, I don't see how that could make you a bad person." She looked away in thought, her lips pursing. "There are a ton of reasons you wouldn't be happy for someone, maybe what they're happy about isn't healthy, or isn't good."
Chat Noir averted his eyes when she turned back to him. "It's nothing like that. Everyone else is happy for her but I just can't bring myself to feel the same."
Ladybug smirked knowingly. "Her? Did a lady friend find a man that wasn't the smooth talking kitty cat?"
This at least brought a small smile to his face. "It's nothing like that, I don't have feelings for her like that." But as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew that wasn't quite right. He'd sure as hell been feeling something. He didn't visit her as Chat Noir because he was lonely….well, at first it was, but after a while it turned into something else. When had it turned into something else?
But Ladybug didn't catch the immediate chaos in him. "Well then, why aren't you happy for her?"
"I don't know," he sighed, standing. "I'll get over it, trust me. It's no big deal."
"Aw, are you just hormonal?" she giggled.
Chat rolled his eyes. "No, I'm fine."
Ladybug hopped to her feet then, decidedly making it her mission that night to cheer him back up. "Alright then, Kitty Cat. Let's go do our jobs. Besides, I thought I was the only girl for you," she said with a sassy smirk and a wink before jumping off the tower.
Chat Noir couldn't help the smirk that slid onto his face as he vaulted off the tower after her. The nights where their patrol turned into a game of superhero tag were his favorites…
And those were the patrols he looked forward to. Heck, even when an akuma popped up and he got a chance to banter with his Ladybug proved to be a mood booster for him. He still enjoyed his outings with his friends—his father was becoming more and more lenient as he proved he would work harder at his shoots and shows with this new incentive—but as time went on, he began to feel like an outcast among his own friends.
Luka joined them a few times in the months since that first date. It was odd, but he genuinely tried to be happy for her, and he could tell Nino and Alya were making an effort to keep him included, but they couldn't help the odd numbers sometimes. For a short moment, he considered inviting Chloe on one of their outings, but decided that would only cause drama.
He did, however, find himself not-so-accidentally planning to hang out with Chloe in place of the usual gang a few times, just to breathe. She understood and now he was aware why. She'd known about Marinette's little crush, and since they had tried the dating thing and it had crashed and burned spectacularly, she was making an attempt to at least rekindle a friendship.
She was his first friend, after all. And he couldn't ignore the letters they'd sent each other as children.
"Where's Sabrina?" he asked as he entered the room.
"She had a family thing this weekend, she left school early."
"Must be nice," he muttered.
"They're going to get suspicious if you keep ditching them and coming over here," she'd muttered, leaned back casually on her couch with her legs pulled up in front of her. She picked at the chipping polish on her nails and frowned.
"Suspicious of what?" he mumbled, dropping his school bag on the floor to take a seat on the chair across from her.
Chloe gave him a look. "Please, I thought you were getting better at this social stuff."
Adrien rolled his eyes and tilted his head back to look at the glittering chandelier over their heads. "I am, I just…need a change of pace every once in a while. You're my friend, too."
"Whatever," she cooed. "Just don't blame me if they think you're avoiding Marinette."
He leveled a look at her, unamused. "I'm not avoiding Marinette."
"And my dad's not the mayor of Paris," Chloe scoffed before her voice turned softer. It was a new tone for her, one he noticed when she'd become Queen Bee a while back, but one she only started using towards him after their break up. "Look, I know it's bothering you to see her with Luka. Trust me, it's weird."
"It's not weird," he defended, crossing his arms and letting himself slump down into the seat.
"It is a little," she said with a wince. "Why does a senior want to date a sophomore? And one of his sister's friends, at that." She shrugged. "It's a little odd to me."
"It's none of your concern."
"And it's none of yours, yet, here we are," Chloe declared with a grin, throwing her arms out. "Seriously, Adrien. It's not a big deal. It's a little thing. Just for some fun."
"People do that?" he asked with a single raised brow. "Sounds more like toying with emotions."
"Neither of them thinks it's serious," Chloe laughed.
Adrien's mind rewound to the couple of times Luka joined them on their trips around the city. His hand in hers, the light blush that blossomed on her cheeks when he would glance down at her or poke her nose. "Do they?" he asked her softly.
"Well, if she doesn't she'll find out."
"Chloe," he sighed, exasperated.
"If it hurts, it hurts, Adrien," she argued. "It's how we grow. You taught me that."
"Sorry…"
"Let's go get food and then I'll drop you off at home." She stood and then paused. "Just promise me you won't interfere, Adrien."
"Why?"
Chloe help up her hands innocently as Adrien stood and collected his bag. "I'm not saying this because I don't like Marinette, I'm saying this because she needs to learn sooner or later, and sooner is better."
"But you don't like Marinette," he pointed out bluntly, following down the hall.
"Yeah," she drawled, "but I like you and you're obviously worried about her."
"I'm not worried," he argued lightly.
"No," she mused, letting him push the front door open for her, finger innocently at her lips. "That's not the right word for it. Jealous is more accurate." She laughed at the scowl on her friend's face. "You should do an angry photo shoot one day. That face is adorbs."
Despite his somewhat-calming talks with Chloe, it was his night patrols with his partner that really had him calm and straight.
It took three months, but he managed to get accustomed to their relationship. He turned his eyes elsewhere instead, flirting with Ladybug or the pretty model he was paired up with during that photo shoot last week. Like Chloe had said, it didn't have to be serious, and he was allowed to test the waters and figure things out, right?
And as Chat, flirting was second nature.
"Oh my—what is wrong with you sometimes?" Ladybug grumbled when they'd finally left the gathering on the street and landed on a rooftop away from the commotion that usually followed the cleansing of an akuma.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, completely oblivious to the force of her scowl.
"That girl was like, three years younger than you."
He tilted his head at her. "Is that an issue?" He wanted her to say it, to confirm for him that an age gap like that at their age was weird. His mother had been five years younger than his father, but they were adults and five years was not a third of her life like it was a fifteen-year-old.
Ladybug visibly floundered. "No, it's not. It just—I just—"
"Jealous?" he cooed. He glanced down at his ring as it flashed and backed away from her with a teasing grin. "Ah, and so the clock strikes twelve."
"I'm not jealous!" she called back.
"Of course not," he laughed as he dropped down between buildings on the other side of the street and out of sight.
It was only a week or two after that that it happened. For the first night since they'd started doing weekly patrols a year and a half ago, Ladybug didn't show up for patrol. There were no akuma about, and the city was quiet, so he knew it was a personal day for her then. He couldn't reach her through the communicator, and after an hour he gave up and decided to head home.
But in a last minute decision, Chat Noir changed direction, heading down a different road towards a familiar balcony.
Marinette wasn't up on her balcony like she was dying to be, feeling the fresh breeze on her face, surrounded by rose bushes and flowers…she knew Chat Noir was probably looking for Ladybug, and she didn't want him to see her like the mess she was.
Chat Noir saw the light on in her bedroom and decided to visit anyways, knocking on the little door at the back of the balcony lightly.
She knew who it was. She should have ignored him, but something in her core felt that was rude. She intended to simply ask him to leave her be for the night. Tikki was watching helplessly from her little room in the closet as Marinette quickly dried her eyes on a tissue and checked her appearance quickly in her mirror. She turned off the overhead light, leaving on the lamp, hoping the dimmer lighting would hide the redness in her face.
She climbed to unlock the little door, pushing it up to open it. Chat Noir caught it and pushed it the rest of the way, frowning when he saw her face. "Are you alright?" he demanded.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she grinned. "I stubbed my toe on the way to open the—"
"Marinette," he sighed. "Either come up here or I'll hop down there."
"Chat Noir," she rolled her eyes. "I'm actually not in the mood to talk, I'm getting ready for bed."
"Five minutes," he promised, offering a hand down into the opening.
Hesitantly, Marinette took his hand and let him lift her up onto the roof. "Five minutes," she reiterated, frowning as he took a few steps back to look at her.
"Who hurt you?" he asked with a playful glare.
Marinette swallowed hard. "It wasn't…He didn't…"
Chat Noir's heart dropped. That guy he was seeing…Chat Noir felt the glare turn serious, and his fists clenched. "Wait, did he really hurt you? What happened?" He stepped up to the front of her and rest his hands on her shoulders, but she kept her face turned, embarrassed as a few more tears pricked her eyes.
"You were there when I bared my soul to you about Ladybug," he reminded her softly, thinking back to the candle lit dinner he'd tried to set up for his partner. "I can be here for you this time and finally return the favor."
"Shouldn't you be with Ladybug?" Marinette murmured, wiping her eyes before the tears could fall.
"She didn't show up tonight. We were supposed to meet for a patrol—but she's strong. I know she's alright. She knows where to find me if she needs me. Right now I'm here for you."
"I got dumped," she breathed, her voice light as the wind. "Just…the age gap. He just didn't…feel it, he said. Whatever that means."
Chat Noir learned back against the railing across from her, not knowing what to say. He and Marinette hadn't really talked about things like this before. What could he say to make it better? What would he want someone to say to him? But Marinette beat him to breaking the silence.
"It was just nice, you know?" she continued with a smile. "To have someone interested in me like that. He wanted to know everything—what I liked, what I was feeling, what I liked to do. I've never really had anyone that interested in me before."
Chat frowned. "Clearly he did you a service."
"A what?" Marinette frowned up at Chat Noir in surprise, and he realizing his lacking social skills were showing.
"I just mean," he continued quickly, "that at least he was man enough to let you know he wasn't feeling it anymore. That he didn't just lead you on."
Understanding what he meant, Marinette nodded solemnly and put her chin back on her knees. "But it just made me think, the more he got to know me, the less interested he was."
He felt his stomach drop to the floor and he pushed away from the rail to take up a place crouched in front of her. "That's not true at all," he told her seriously. "You are a wonderful, amazing person. You're talented and kind, and any guy that isn't interested in that isn't worth your time."
"You hardly know me," she said, a faint blush tinting her cheeks. "But thank you."
"I know you better than you think," he quipped with a wink.
"Have you ever had your heart broken?" she dared to ask, tugging at threads hanging from the cuffs of her rolled up jeans. "Anyone ever dared to dump The Chat Noir?"
"Any lady I've taken out hasn't been aware of that," he laughed. "I've never been dumped, but I've been the one to break a girl's heart. It wasn't fun and I wished I hadn't had to do it."
"So why did you?"
Chat straightened up, stretching his knees. "Because I knew it wasn't going to work out. I didn't think it was fair to keep dragging it on when I wasn't happy and I knew I wouldn't ever be the kind of guy that would truly make her happy."
"Was she upset?"
Chat finally looked up at Marinette, but saw Chloe's face instead, just as sad and teary. Just as earnestly upset and heartbroken.
"Yeah."
"Did she hate you?"
He frowned at Marinette. "No, Marinette. She was upset. For a really long time. She didn't talk to me for a while. We did become friends again, though."
"I don't think he and I will ever be friends again."
Chat Noir sighed and moved to the lounge chair, nudging her until she made room for him next to her. He laid back and looked up at the stars for a second, reminding himself that releasing his miraculous was not going to fix her problem.
"Maybe not," he said finally. "Not everyone does. She and I were sort of friends before we tried the dating thing. We only tried it so I could prove a point to her. It was a bad idea, it was messy. But she finally understood."
"What point was that?"
"That I wasn't going to make her happy," he explained slowly. "She has bothered me about wanting to go out for a few years now, and I never felt that way about her. So to finally get her to shut up and show her it wasn't going to work, I finally agreed. It led her on and made things worse."
"I just don't want to feel like this anymore." She hugged her knees tighter, wondering if this was how growing up was always going to feel. Unsure, unwanted, rejected. Confused and like every decision was wrong.
"I don't know what to tell you," he whispered, still watching the starts above them and picking out airplanes among the twinkling lights. "I'm still figuring it out right alongside you. But it'll get easier. There will be other guys. You still have your friends." He turned his head to meet her gaze, a little surprised she was laying back with him, but her head turned towards him. "I've seen the group you hang out with. You've got a lot of friends rooting for you."
This made Marinette smile as she thought about each and every one of them. Especially Adrien. The smile faltered. There would be other guys, just not the one she…
Marinette sighed. She needed to move on, and she hoped seeing Luka would help push her feelings in a different direction. Maybe that's truly why she was so upset, because he hadn't given her the chance to finally, fully have feelings for him. He didn't immediately make her forget Adrien, as much as she adored Luka.
"When did you get so wise, Chat Noir?"
He grinned at her. "I have some pretty awesome friends."
Marinette hummed at looked up at the sky above her. "Me, too."