Shandy: Sorry we've taken so long to update!
Candy: Man, who knew it would be so hard to update stories on here and Amino?
Shandy: *raises hand*
Candy: Besides you.
Shandy:...
Candy: Anyway- reviews!
Jennex: I do too.
Rose Tiger: Unfurtunately, there will be no MariChat in this chapt-purr. I hop the puns make up fur it tho. :3
wolfrunnerable: ;)
mayuralover: Don't worry... everything will be fine... *laughs evilly and rubs hands together*
WhitleyMiranda: Why thank you! I'm glad that you've enjoyed it so far!
Shandy: ENjoy the story!
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It was a week now.
It did not get easier.
Adrien was happy that he had managed to convince Marinette to let him sleep over the past few nights- he supposed it was helping with his urge. He didn't dare skip a night to try and find out.
Chloe, on the other hand, was seriously struggling.
"Come on, Chlo'." Adrien probed. "You just have to walk up and talk to him."
"Says the guy who can't even tell the girl of his dreams who he is under a mask." Chloe hissed, her eyes not leaving her mate's head across the courtyard. Adrien winced a bit, but he didn't say anything in response.
"Don't you have that project with him?" Adrien asked, gesturing to Nathaniel. He had figured it out two days ago, despite how oblivious everyone claimed that he was.
"So?"
"Well, why don't you go and talk to him about it?"
"Pfft, as if, I'll just have Sabrina do it." Chloe rolled her eyes, looking at her nails.
"But would Nathaniel appreciate it?" That seemed to catch her attention making her freeze. "Besides, being on the project with him, alone lets you spend time with him. One-on-one. And you won't have a reason to want to go after Marinette because they want to talk to each other, and I won't have to be mad at Nathaniel for the same reason."
"What's in it for me?" Chloe asked, eyeing him from the corner of her eye. Adrien raised an eyebrow.
"Seriously? Chloe, this is your chance to get on Nathaniel's good side! Show him what you've shown me, you'll be friends in no time."
"Easy for you to say." Chloe grumbled. "Fine. I'll go and talk to him about the project. But you better be right about becoming his friend at least." She huffed, walking away.
Adrien's ear twitched at the sound of Marinette giggling… from right behind him!
When had that happened?!
He jumped, placing a hand against his heart as he turned to stare at Marinette.
"M-Mari!" He stuttered, light blush tainting his cheeks. "Y-You scared me!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too." She smiled up at him sheepishly.
"It's ok, just- don't do that again."
"I'll try not to." Marinette turned to look at Chloe, who was talking to Nathaniel a bit awkwardly. "So… she actually likes him?"
"Yeah." Adrien nodded, clearing his throat as he looked over at the two. If he wanted to, he could focus his hearing on them to listen to just what they were saying.
But he respected their privacy (curiosity was definitely gonna be the end of him one day, but not today!), preferring to focus on anything and everything Marinette.
Speaking of which, he wasn't even close to her at all, and he could practically feel her scent enveloping his being, and the steady, calm beat of her heart that was different from his own heart's erratic beating.
"How long have you known?" She asked.
"Two days." He replied, looking at the two across the way with a small smile on his face. "Despite the way she acts, Chloe's actually always worrying about everyone. Although, she voices it by insulting them… I've been trying to work on the insults with her, and I think I've made progress. She understands constructive criticism, but doesn't seem to be able to use it properly…"
"What about you?"
"Hmn?" Adrien's head looked back at Marinette.
"Do you like anyone?" Adrien blinked, confused for a moment.
'What? She just asked if I liked anyone? What does she mean, it's obvious that I like everyone in class, they're all great friends. Unless… HOLY CRAP SHE'S ASKING WHO I HAVE A CRUSH ON!'
Adrien's face betrayed the words that floated out of his mouth as false, his face heating him up and turning him as red as Nathaniel's hair.
"Wh-What? Like anyone? What w-would give you that Idea?" He laughed nervously, looking down at the ground as his hand came up to his neck to rub it awkwardly. "I- This is my first year at school! I-I don't know wh-what you're talking about- I-I hardly know anyone."
"Adrien, it's perfectly natural to like someone like that." Marinette giggled, rocking on her heel as she looked up at him, a mischievous look in her eyes. "So? Who's the lucky girl?"
'WARNING- THIS IS NOT A DRILL! GIRL OF DREAMS HAS ASKED WHO I LIKE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!'
"I, uh, mmmm…." He glanced up at her once before looking away, heat on his cheeks increasing. "She's…"
DING… DING… DING…
'Oh, thank the stars above! Crisis averted!'
"Oh, would you look at that!" He laughed awkwardly, not looking at Marinette, who was frowning at him. "Bell rang, we should really get to class- don't want to be late so, goodbye Marinette I'llseeyoulater!" With that he rushed towards the classroom, sitting next to Nino and almost slamming into him.
"Dude- what the-" Adrien threw the hood of his cat-themed jacket over his head.
"Don't let Mari bug me!" He hissed.
"What- why wouldn't-" Marinette suddenly burst into the room, eyes instantly catching Adrien's form. She walked toward his desk with determination, breathed a sigh to calm herself, and then knelt down in front of Adrien.
"You know, if you didn't want to tell me who you liked, you could've just said so." She said. She smiled and patted his arms lightly, Nino's eyes going wide as realization of what had happened struck. "I'll help you in any way I can." Then she stood up and joined Alya behind the two boys.
"Dude!" Nino hissed. "Did Marinette really… you know…" Adrien peeked his head out, nodding a bit, cheeks still red.
Man, he wish he had Chat's confidence as Adrien.
"Oh, dude, you've got yourself in a pickle." Nino sighed, patting the embarrassed blonde's back.
"What am I going to do~?" Adrien whined in a whisper to Nino. "She's going to find out~! My life's going to be ruined~!"
"Ya know, dude, it's not going to be the end of the world if you confess that you like her." Nino said pointedly. When Adrien didn't respond, he continued. "Did I ever tell you how Alya and I got together?" Adrien shook his head, carefully taking off his hoodie (so as not to take off the headband) to look at Nino. Curiosity burned in his eyes.
"It was two years ago. Freshman year, dude." Nino said, scooting a bit closer and draping an arm around Adrien's shoulders. "I was finally going to do it- I was going to ask Marinette out to go to the Zoo. They had this new black panther there you see, and she's always had this thing with cats, so I figured that I would be in the clear." He chuckled. "In my haste to ask her out, I invited Marinette and Alya to come to the Zoo with me."
Adrien's eyes grew wide, so Nino continued. "It was kinda the right move- Alya's father is one of the Employees there. However, she said that she often helped her father clean out the cages when she came to visit, having seen all of the sights before. She insisted that Marinette and I go on without her, so we went to go and see the panther."
"She was being pretty adorable, skipping along, drawing sketches of things that inspired her. When we stopped by the panther, I knew it was time to tell her. So, I opened my mouth, fully prepared to tell her about my feelings…"
"Then what?" Adrien asked. The bell rang in the background, more students coming in, but no sign of the teacher yet.
"And I told her 'Mari, how do you tell someone that you like them?'." Nino laughed, shaking his head at himself. "And then Mari, being Mari, looked at me and asked me who it was. I admit, I panicked, so I said the first name that came to my mind- Alya." Adrien's eyes grew wide and he snickered, lifting up a hand to cover them.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want." Nino rolled his eyes. "And then Marinette began to fangirl about something she called DJWIFI and practically dragged my hand and pulled me over to Alya's father. She whispered something to him, and he answered whatever it was. Then she dragged me all the way to the cage that Alya was helping to clean in, and told me to go in there and start a conversation with her. Now, at this point, I couldn't go back on my words. And she just looked so excited and happy, that I went along with it." Nino sighed.
"Best decision of my life. Alya turned out to be exactly who I was looking for. So when I asked her if she wanted to go and get some dinner after this, she asked me 'alone' and I said 'yes' and she totally fangirled." Nino chuckled. "Apparently, she had been crushing on me for weeks, but knew that I was interested in Marinette, so she did her best to make me happy even at her own expense. That's when I knew that Alya was truly the best option for me."
"That's… really romantic." Adrien admitted.
"Yeah. We were on and off for a while though- she didn't think that I was serious about dating her." He laughed and shook his head. "Girls are weird sometimes, bro."
A book lightly hit Nino's head, and Adrien looked up to see Marinette rolling her eyes and Alya teasingly glaring at Nino.
"No weirder than you guys are to us girls. Besides- you had that crazy crush on Mari- how was I supposed to know that you had actually fallen head-over-heels for me?" Alya leaned down and kissed Nino on the head, the other blushing. "But the past is past- we've been dating for eight months now, and we ain't gonna stop."
"Y-Yeah."
That was when the teacher decided to walk in, saving Nino from any further embarrassment, and leaving Adrien feeling better than he had when Marinette had first asked.
What was he going to do?
If she pressed on, trying to get him and her (though she didn't know it) together, she would either discover his feelings for her, or realize that he was Chat Noir.
And neither of those could happen.
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"Kid, I don't know what you're trying to do, but whatever it is…" Plagg looked Adrien straight in the face as Adrien looked up at him and away from the photo-album in his hands. "You're failing at it miserably."
"Shut up, Plagg." Adrien said, a blush tinting his cheeks.
"I mean, honestly. She asks you who you like, and you run away." Plagg sat himself down on top of the book, Adrien pout-glaring at the kwami as his tail swung from side to side in an agitated way. "That was the perfect time to tell her that you like her like that!"
"Well-" Adrien looked to his right for a moment, before looking back at Plagg. "I don't want her to feel miserable!"
"And why would she be miserable?"
"Uh… because I would be miserable?"
"And how could you be miserable if you are already her girlfriend?"
"She doesn't know that." Adrien said, defensive. "And she would reject me. And it would hurt worse than her pushing me away ever would, even if she's already my girlfriend."
"And you know how that could be solved?"
"Yup." Adrien nodded. "Keeping it a secret."
"No, kid. You have to tell her who you are." Plagg said seriously.
"No, I keep it a secret."
"Tell her."
"No."
"Tell. Her."
"No."
"For the love of-" Plagg threw his paws up in the air in an agitated way. "Adrien, there's no way that it's gonna stay a secret!"
"I just have to survive this month." Adrien replied as though it was obvious.
Plagg sighed, looking toward the ceiling of his bedroom, his Paws placed together as though it were in prayer.
"Darling, please help this kid understand." The kwami said. Adrien rolled his eyes and looked back at the photo album.
It was a family photo- the last one they had had before Agreste Industries had gone big. Adrien was about a year old, not looking at the camera and instead up at his mother. Everyone was there except for his Aunt Clara and her husband- that was because they were close to the expected due-date of they're child.
His phone suddenly buzzed- it was a text from Chloe.
Bossy Queen: I finally convinced Daddy to let me into some of mother's old things. Here's a few pictures of her.
Adrien opened his phone just as Plagg decided to talk again.
"Alright- Adrien, I'm going to tell you something very important." Adrien's jaw dropped as he stared at the photo. "It's about my previous holders- and specifically, your previous reincarnation."
"No way." Adrien glanced between a slightly older photo in the photo album and the pictures Chloe sent.
"This is a big step, and I need you to give me one-hundred percent of your attention-" Adrien leapt off of the couch, placing the phone to his ear as he began to pace. "Oi! Kid, I'm talking to you-"
"Shhh!" Adrien said, not looking at the kwami. Plagg rolled his eyes, turning away with a huff.
"Rude."
"Hello?"
"What's her last name?"
"Excuse me?!" Chloe asked on the other line.
"This is very important." Adrien replied calmly. "What is your mother's maiden name?"
"Capelle. Clara Capelle."
"Oh my gosh." Adrien ran a hand through his hair.
"Adri-kins?"
"Your mother. Her mother was born in Ajaccio and married a man there. They moved to Japan for a bit to get her help from fellow hafukyattos before she had kids- two boys and three girls. One of the boys and two of the girls were born as hafukyattos, the other boy and girl being born human. Your mother was one of the hafukyatto girls."
"Adrien, you're starting to scare me."
"The first one to get married was, surprisingly, the youngest of your mother's litter- the one human girl. She fell in love with and married a man who was from France who was visiting Japan to see what he could to to help Hafukyattos."
"Adrien, I don't-"
"And that young woman's name was Annalise, and that young man's name was Gabriel."
Silence spoke from the other line. Adrien swallowed before he spoke again.
"Chloe, you're mother is my Aunt Clara."
"Th-That means…" Chloe's voice was shaky on the other side of the line, and Adrien nodded.
"Yes, Chloe. We're cousins."
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