Hello! Slightly interesting things are happening in this chapter. Thank you, everyone, who has been supporting this story. Please a review because it helps me find the motivation to update. LOL
Rose was twirling slowly across the stage to her number. Eyes bright, smile wide and her singing a gentle hum.
Where did we go? What'd we do?
I think we made something entirely new
She gestured towards Juleka who stood away from the crowd. Blinking wide brown eyes at the blond girl on stage. Mouthing the lyrics to the song she was too shy to sing aloud.
And it wasn't quite me, and it wasn't quite you
I think it was someone entirely new
Rose stepped down from the stage and made her way over to Juleka, slowly circling the taller girl. Two pairs of bright eyes seeking each other and sharing unspoken thoughts to each other.
"Oh, um, well I just can't stop thinking," Rose shyly stood in front of Juleka, batting her lashes at the taller girl. Pointing the microphone towards her expectantly.
"So, um, did you say I was different?" Juleka softly whispered and smiled as she gently overlapped her hand around Rose's, taking control of the microphone. The rest of the class, even Chloe, cooed at the sight of the couple sharing the microphone as the sang the duet.
"And you hadn't before?"
"Of course not, When would I have ever?" Juleka shook her head, unable to break eye contact with the smaller blonde. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she felt everyone's attention focusing on the two of them.
Really, Rose should know by now that Juleka didn't do well being the center of attention. Yet she was transfixed by that beautiful ocean gaze and couldn't find it in her heart to break away from her.
Marinette sighed happily as she watched the pair of them lost in their own world. Smiling at the pair, Marinette couldn't help but feel slightly envious, a teeny tiny microscopic amount really. How many nights had she swooned over Adrien's emerald eyes? How long had she wished for Adrien to stare at her like she was the most important person in the world?
Well you're here too
We're here together
As Juleka and Rose hummed into the shared microphone, Marinette noticed Nathaniel watching the pair as well. She was about to go over to the redhead when Alya took the microphone back and announced the next performers. Marinette did a double take when Nino, Kim, and Max were trying to drag a somewhat reluctant Adrien to the stage.
And when the very familiar music of the very popular song started playing, Adrien in all his blond muscular glory could only give a despondent sigh in defeat as he dragged his feet and took the position at the front of the quartet. Max and Nino were standing on either side of him and Kim, being the tallest, took his place behind the blond. Each of them carried a microphone in hand.
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality
Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see
"I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy" Adrien closed his eyes in an attempt to display a frustrated image.
Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me
Papa, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Papa, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Papa, ooh, didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters
Adrien took a couple of steps forwards and looked into the distance, Marinette could have swooned at how absolutely handsome the model looked. Calm down Marinette! You shouldn't be going gaga over a pretty boy singing to Queen.
Yet the flush on her cheeks betrayed her attraction. Marinette forced her sappy grin into a firm tight-lipped smile with practiced ease. For a moment, she frowned as another blonde with green eyes flashed across her mind.
That low baritone was naggingly familiar and at that moment a vision of Chat Noir standing at the front of the stage singing his heart out appeared in her mind. She could definitely picture her partner in his black-clad glory belting out to the music. The image in her mind was so encompassing it felt like Chat Noir really was there. Completely removing Adrien from the picture.
It was almost as if Chat had replaced Adrien. Yet the similarities in the two green-eyed boys were so overwhelming it made Marinette gasp and take a step back in realization.
As Adrien continued his solo, Alya searched the crowd for her best friend. Smirking at the complete besotted look Marinette had in her eyes. Even if it looked like the dark-haired girl was trying desperately to hide her feelings. Suddenly, the besotted look she was so used to changed immediately to a frown and furrowed eyebrows.
Adrien really did look great on stage. He didn't have the best voice but he poured every bit of passion into his performance. Earlier on, Alya had set up her phone on a tripod stand. Now she had returned her phone back to the stand, knowing the boys weren't the type to get off the stage. Confident that the tripod was secure, she left her station to head on towards her best friend.
Unlike the ever spontaneous Rose, though Alya really did have a lot of fun recording that performance. Standing next to Marinette, Alya nudged her bestie in the side and gave her a knowing smirk. Marinette had a pinched look on her face before she returned her attention to the stage as she observed Adrien while he sang.
Marinette would only spare Alya a glance before she was once again bringing her attention to the beautiful enigma that was Adrien Agreste.
Marinette remembers very clearly how she had rebuffed Alya's theory almost two years ago. "Adrien is too good to be Chat Noir!" She had argued with an exaggerated huff. Chat Noir and Adrien didn't even have any similar characteristics other than having the exact same shade of golden spun hair and bewitching emerald eyes.
Shaking the memory away, Marinette shrugged at Alya and went back to paying attention to the group's performance. It was the guitar solo and Kim was on his knees, playing an air guitar with an expression of total concentration on his face while the others moved their bodies to the beat.
Bewitching emerald eyes caught her in their intense gaze and Marinette felt her breath escape her lungs as she allowed herself to get trapped. The two gazed into each other's eyes, seeking answers for the questions unasked. Marinette felt the stirrings of emotions that she usually only associated with Chat Noir.
A swirling unexplainable yet a totally welcomed mixture of adrenaline, fun and absolute trust.
Could it really be?
Was Adrien really Chat Noir?
As the group continued their performance, once again in the diamond position, Marinette took the opportunity to really study Adrien. The body measurements seemed to be about the same. If Adrien had removed that white overshirt he was so fond of wearing, she was sure that Chat and Adrien would have roughly the same shoulder breadth.
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Marinette's heart was thundering painfully in her chest, memories of past events and actions of the blond model that had never made much sense before had suddenly come screaming to the front of her mind. Pushing their way to make themselves known past the arguments she had made for Adrien when Alya had questioned her.
And Adrien ran a hand through sweaty bangs and his normally neat hair was ruffled into the exact same messy windswept hairstyle as Chat Noir. Marinette tried her best to stifle a gasp behind a hand.
Mama, ooh, (anyway the wind blows)
I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
The physique was about the same, tall, muscular, broad-shouldered. A lanky body and strong legs that were made for leaping across the streets of Paris. Marinette recalled how Chat could switch from running on all fours to bipedal movements as if it were nothing.
She remembered how Adrien had taken on a dare by Kim and the two had raced down the school hallways on all fours. She remembered how Adrien won, looking as if it were completely natural and second nature for him. Kim had gaped like a fish, eating Adrien's dust as the blond leaped towards the finishing line as if it were nothing.
Adrien's cheeky grin that he shot at Kim was a mirror image of Chat's own.
All the suspicions Marinette had pushed away because really, how could the already overworked model, fencer, the genius poster child Adrien motherfucking Agreste possibly have the time to be Chat Noir.
But Adrien and Chat Noir had never been in the same place together at the same time.
Adrien was always asking Marinette on her thoughts of the black-clad superhero. How Chat Noir would sit on her balcony and ask about her day, paying particular attention whenever she mentioned Adrien.
If the two were one and the same, then she didn't really have a crush on three different boys then did she? Only her best friend and her superhero partner. Who were brothers?
Nothing really matters, anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
As the music died down, Marinette was almost hyperventilating at her thoughts. Fear was like a fog and it was clouding her mind.
Any way the wind blows
Too green eyes were staring right at her. If Adrien was Chat Noir, did that mean that he knew that she was Ladybug?
She did the first thing she could think of, which was to make a stupid excuse to Alya, saying she'll be back soon before running off away from the tentage, away from the party, away from the stage, away from Adrien.
Away from Chat Noir.
How could she have been so blind?
Chat Noir had been in front of her the entire time, LITERALLY, he had sat in front of her every day for the past two years. Why didn't she realize it sooner? Dashing across the park Marinette ran up to her parents' bakery, eyes stinging and breathing labored as she tried to stop herself from having a panic attack.
Her parents were out front, standing by the counter helping a customer. They seemed surprised to see her sprinting towards them but an almost hysteric yelling of forgetting something or other from the blur that was their daughter had the two of them shrugging in confusion.
Marinette was 16 now, almost 17, she was prone to the weird behavior teenagers were known for. This wasn't the first time their daughter had forgotten something and had run all the way back home to retrieve it. They almost worried if an Akuma was loose when they remembered that there hadn't been any akumatized victims for the previous two summers.
Marinette slammed her hatch shut and latched it, beginning to pace above it as her thoughts raced through her head, a mile a minute. She screamed, falling on to her butt, when she came face to face with Felix who sat at her computer, UMS III playing in the background as the startled blond stared at the disheveled Marinette, controller rolling on the floor after it had been dropped in shock.
Felix took a moment to notice Marinette's labored breathing and stricken expression. Her bangs were sticking to her forehead from sweat and her eyes wide, pupils dilated as she panicked. He could see that her hands were shaking and she would probably drop any second before her legs refused to support her weight.
Felix reached out for just as her legs gave way and Marinette clutched onto his shirt in desperation. What could possibly have happened during that party? Felix stole a glance out the window and didn't see anybody running towards the balcony.
"Mari? What is the matter?" Felix asked gently. Marinette looked like she had seen a ghost. "Tikki? What has happened?" Felix asked the tiny god urgently.
"I-I really don't know, I was in her bag and Adrien was singing on stage. Suddenly she ran home. I don't know what happened." Tikki flew up to sit on Marinette's still shaking shoulders.
"F-Felix, Adrien is… Adrien he-" Marinette stuttered, tears coming to her eyes. Fear grabbed Felix around the throat in a vice grip. What's wrong with Adrien?
"What happened to my brother? Is he injured?" Felix started to shake Marinette in a futile attempt to get her to release the information she was holding from him. Damn it Marinette, what's going on?
"I d-didn't know! I should have known!" Marinette stared tearily into Felix's blue grey eyes. "Didn't know what Marinette?" Felix almost shouted. Marinette was being particularly frustrating at the moment and was pushing his already frayed nerves from the lack of sleep.
Marinette kept silent before she broke from Felix's grasp. She couldn't share her suspicions with Felix. The older boy had already freaked out when he found out about her being Ladybug. Felix would probably get a heart attack if he ever found out that Adrien was her butterfly fighting partner.
Chat Noir's identity was not her secret to share.
Marinette got up from the floor - huh, when did she even get there? She sat heavily on her chaise and released a breath that she hadn't known she was holding. How could she lie her way out of this?
Felix would know if she lied. He always knew when she was lying.
"I-I didn't know… I didn't know Adrien could sing like that." Marinette faked swooned onto the chaise - pretty convincingly because it's not the first time she had swooned over Adrien, flopping on her back and turning her head away from Felix. So that he couldn't see her face. If Felix couldn't spot the unease on her face, then he wouldn't question her for acting strangely.
If you ask no questions, I will tell you no lies.
After taking up the mantle of Ladybug, it felt like Marinette had become an expert in avoiding awkward questions. So she launched into a realistic and overzealous rant about how absolutely amazing Adrien looked like while he was on stage.
Felix stared at his best friend with narrowed eyes. Marinette wasn't quite exactly lying to him, it was impossible for Marinette to fake being in a fangirl mood, something he had seen plenty of times over the years. Yet it still felt like she was hiding something from him and he couldn't quite place a finger on it.
"I-I should get back. I was so overwhelmed by his performance that I just ran out." Marinette worried, chewing her lower lip.
Marinette, during her time recounting Adrien's passionate rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, had somehow ended up on Felix's lap. He was sitting crossed legged on the floor, leaning against the chaise. She had at one point almost fallen off the chaise mid-rant. Felix had caught her in time and sat her on his lap.
If it mirrored how Marinette had been cradled in Chat Noir's lap in the wee hours of the morning. Felix was comfortable enough with his feelings to admit that he had been almost burning with jealousy. There had been only one thing he had lacked compared to Marinette's interactions with Adrien.
The lack of skin to skin contact with the smaller girl.
Felix had always been alone and his father had never been an advocate for tender loving care. So he had been cautious to touch Marinette, not really knowing if he was invading her personal space. But Marinette had explained that Adrien had similar problems, not understanding personal boundaries.
Except Adrien hadn't be raised to believe that physical touch was beneath him. Despite not having the same beliefs as his father, Felix just couldn't shake off a lifetime's worth of conditioning.
It was difficult to gauge somebody's personal space when you've been alone all your life. It was difficult because they hadn't grown up with the appropriate exposure to social interactions. M Agreste had been steadfast in his orders to keep his boys safe, isolated.
The Agreste sons didn't know when they went too far because they had been touch starved all their lives. Their only memories of positive human contact had been their mother. Before her disappearance.
Felix' approach was to avoid skin contact whenever possible while Adrien went the totally opposite direction. He sometimes leaned in too close, he placed a hand on his friend's shoulders. He had at least had Chloe while growing up so he wasn't as ignorant as his elder brother.
Marinette honestly didn't mind the close contact. She knew better than anybody else how Felix struggled to be around large crowds of people. Having been isolated for so long, Felix was almost always uncomfortable around many people and loud noises. He appreciated the background noise that Marinette generated whenever he was in her home.
It wasn't the same as the overbearing silence of the dorm room.
Felix stared down at Marinette, having his best friend in his arms, seated in his lap, the love of his life. It felt like he was in a dream. If he was, he never wanted to wake up.
Marinette was so warm and her weight resting on his was more of a comfort than a nuisance. She had rested her head against his chest and Felix briefly wondered if she could hear his heart pounding.
He had never had somebody else this close to him. Not even his classmates at his previous school. Not that anybody there had even wanted to hold him.
He ducked his head into Marinette's hair and took a deep inhale, committing the scent of her shampoo to memory. Without much thought he leaned forward, kissing her forehead. Marinette squeaked and jumped from his lap in surprise. Felix released his grip and watched amusedly as Marinette stumbled on to the floor, flushing a bright red from his actions.
"When you are ready to tell me what really happened, I shall be here. Waiting for you. I am not certain of the events that have transpired. But trust in me Marinette, I would not allow you to shoulder your burdens alone." Felix gave the girl a gentle smile. Watching the blush bloom on Marinette's cheeks spread throughout her face, turning even her ears pink.
"F-Felix…" The way Marinette whispered his name made him want to pull her back into his arms. He wanted more than anything to protect her.
Yet, he was not in a position to do so. He frowned internally at the thought of Ladybug's partner who often visited Marinette in the night. Chat Noir certainly had the power to protect Marinette.
"Thank you." Marinette gave him a sweet smile. Her face was still red, but her eyes were shining as she looked at him. At this moment, Marinette only had eyes for Felix. He would take this moment and treasure it, having Marinette's undivided attention was a rarity in itself. He stood up and held a hand out for her.
She took it in her own firm grip and he pulled her up. Except he used more force that needed, making Marinette stumble and he took advantage of it to pull her into his arms. Marinette's eyes widened at the close contact, a reminder of how he had held her when he caught her from her fall all those weeks ago.
She closed her eyes and took in Felix' scent. She held onto his body, while it wasn't muscular like Chat's or Adrien, it was still tall and lean. He held her like she was a precious treasure and if she hadn't been blushing before she certainly was now.
She breathed in the scent that was utterly Felix _ the scent of books and a hint of cologne, and allowed herself to relax in his hold. Felix was there and he would hold her up. Felix would never allow any harm to come to her. Felix would always be by her side no matter what.
Her stomach flipped and her heart was pounding, for an entirely different reason from just fifteen minutes ago. The very thought that Adrien and Chat Noir could be the same person had filled her with an overwhelming fear and a sense of dread had enveloped her entire being.
But Felix was here. Felix was safe. Felix would hold her while she panicked internally. Felix would help her calm down. Because Felix was her rock. One of her pillars of strength that she drew from on a daily basis.
"I mean it, Mari. You can trust me with anything." Felix' low baritone voice tickled her ear. But she took the chance to nuzzle his neck. "I know." The simple reply was all that Felix needed to know that Marinette really did place her trust in him. She would confide in him when the time was right. Whenever she was ready.
Marinette's phone started buzzing and the two pulled away from each other reluctantly. Marinette fished her phone from her pocket, answering the call when Alya's picture flashed across the screen.
Tikki, who had been resting on the computer table, flew towards her chosen. Waving goodbye to Felix before she flew into Marinette's purse and settled in. Marinette waved distractedly to the taller blond before she too disappeared down the hatch.
He remembered when he first met Marinette and thought of her like a storm. She came in, turning his whole world upside down and left leaving him in an entirely different state of mind. He quickly climbed up to her loft bed. Pushed the skylight to the roof and pulled himself up to her balcony. Watching the love of his life as she jogged back to the tentage in the park.
Marinette arrived at the party to see Chloe already on stage, microphone in hand. Sabrina as her backup singer with a reluctant Alix and Rose. Chloe pretended to have waved off whatever it was that the other girls had presented to her with a nose in the air.
This won't do, that's a bore
That's insulting, I need more
I need, I need, I need, I need
I need, I need, I need fabulous
The three backup dancers twirled away while Chloe took center stage, singing slightly offbeat, one arm outstretched while the other held the microphone to her mouth.
(I want fabulous, bring me fabulous)
Fabulous hair, fabulous style
Fabulous eyes and that fabulous smile
Oh, I like what I see, I like it a lot
Chloe made eye contact with Adrien and gave him a 'come hither' motion with her free hand. Marinette let out a pleased sound when Adrien shook his head. Chloe rolled her eyes and turned away from Adrien.
Is this absolutely fabulous?
Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous?
Until she caught sight of Marinette at the entrance of the tentage and bright blue eyes frowned. "Absolutely... not!" Chloe huffed before turning her nose away from Marinette.
The rest of the class gave the blonde loud cheers and Chloe turned her attention towards them instead. Marinette rolled her eyes at the Mayor's daughter and made her way back to Alya, apologizing for her sudden disappearance.
"What did I miss?" Marinette asked as she waved to the rest of her ex-classmates.
"Well, Max rapped to Eminem's Mockingbird. Alix did a pretty good job at Bad Blood. We took a break and then it was her highness' turn." Alya listed the acts one after the other, putting up a finger at each one. "Nathaniel is next and then its Wonder Boy's solo."
Alya turned to look at Marinette with a serious look in her eye. "When are you going to get up on stage?" Marinette raised an eyebrow."What about you? I didn't hear your name in that list." she snarked. "I'll do it if you do." Alya challenged. Marinette held a hand out, "Deal." The girls shook on it and laughed.
I hope you've enjoyed it! I've listed the songs I've used below.
Rose/Juleka - Something entirely new from Steven Universe
Adrien/Quartet - Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen
Chloe - Fabulous from High School Musical 2
Please, a review! They give me life and motivation!