Chapter 7

Adrien

"WHAT?!!?" Marinette and I both shrieked, our eyes meeting. Her eyes were as wide as my own. Alya just nodded. Marinette already had her brow furrowed, thinking.

After a moment, she simply stated, "Okay." My eyebrows shot into my hair. She must've guessed what I was thinking because she winked at me, a grin plastered to her face. Marinette leaned forward and flicked my nose. "Come on kitty."

What was with Marinette and nose flicking? It's just like Ladybug. I scrambled up after her. "Where are we going?" I asked, causing Marinette to pause.

Her eyes flickered towards the roof, before settling on me. They seemed to beg me to trust her. "Alya grab the snacks," she ordered, grabbing my hand, rushing to her balcony.

We stood there, her body close to mine. I wrapped my arms around her, leaning down to talk into her ear. "I guess you have some sort of plan right?" I questioned as her arms wound themselves around my waste. They were warm, sending sparks through me.

"Yea, I do. Alya never said where you had to kiss me so just pretend like you're going to kiss me then kiss my cheek real quick," she rambled in a whisper, her face flushing.

I nodded, hearing Alya flopping into a seat muttering, "this is gonna be good." I ignored the comment, instead meeting Marinette's eyes. Well, that was a mistake, I thought to myself as I started to drown. It was the only way I could describe the feeling I got. Her eyes drew me in and I couldn't force myself to look away.

"Chat," Marinette muttered a little breathlessly, but it was enough to snap me out of the trance. I quickly kissed her nose, pulled away and threw myself into a seat.

Marinette

What just happened?!??? I took a settling breath, though it did nothing to calm my racing heart. Why am I acting this way? I'm in love with Adrien. Yes I love Chat but not like that.

"Alya, truth or dare?" She was glaring daggers at us, but I guess she realized the flaw in the dare.

"Truth."

"Okayyyy, let's see." Chat tapped his chin for a moment. "Why do you always try to force people together?" Hmmmm. That is a good question. I turned to face Alya, waiting for her answer.

"I guess I just want them to be happy." She paused slightly, leaning forward in her chair, eyes bright. "Marinette, truth or dare?" I gulped. This wouldn't turn out good either way.

"Truth," I whispered meekly. I hate this game.

"Can you deny that you're head over heels in love with the one and only Adrien Agreste?" Chat stared at me, his eyes boring into me. If looks could kill, Alya would be dead a thousand times over by now.

"No. I can't deny it." The words, although not spoken loud, rung out into the silence. Chat Noir's jaw dropped and Alya just sat there smirking.

Luckily, an Akuma alert popped up saving us from the awkwardness. "Gotta go!" Alya and Chat both yelled in sync, already off my balcony. "See you at school tomorrowl!"

"Tikki, what am I going to do? Seeing Chat is going to be awful!" I wailed but Tikki reminded me there was work to be done. "Tikki, spots on!" Soon I was sprinted across rooftops to where the Akuma was.

Chat Noir was standing on the roof, just staring. "Hey Bugaboo." His gaze never turned away from the ground. "Dogs, it had to be dogs," he muttered.

"Who cares if it's dogs or not?" He shot me a glare, causing me to laugh. "But don't you think it's strange to have two Akumas in the same day?" He nodded, rolling his shoulders.

"Let's get this done!" He jumped off the house and I followed suit. "I guess we gotta tail him for awhile." He smirked, his green eyes held a mischievous glint.

I just shook my head, taking off after the Akuma.

Defeating the Akuma, which called itself Puppy Patroller, a stupid name if you ask me, took longer than we thought.

"Pound it!" We both called out, sharing an exhausted smile.

"There was nothing catty about that Akuma." He shuddered.

"Spot on kitty!" I flicked his nose, but my earring beeped, forcing me to wave bye and leave.

It was late by the time I finally got home. I was so exhausted, but it was my night for patrol. I gave Tikki a cookie and waited for her to recharge.

As soon as she was ready to go, I was once again racing across the roof tops. I didn't think there would be any trouble tonight and I was right.

I was near the Eiffel Tower at the end of my patrol, dead on my feet, but for some reason I didn't want to go home.

"M'lady?" Of course he's here. I didn't respond. Instead I stumbled over to him, giving him a tight hug.

"Thank you." I could hear him purring slightly, but I didn't want to embarrass him again.

"For what?" He pulled us over to the inner bars. He gently tugged me down next to him.

"For everything. I know today must've been hard on you, yet you did exactly as I asked. You didn't question me or anything. I don't know how you can trust me that much," I muttered the last part, burying my face into his shoulder.

Adrien

Ladybug hugged me first, and she's still hugging me. Don't freak out, don't freak out. "Why wouldn't I trust you?" I started to play with her hair, messing with the ribbons holding it up.

"Because I mess up all the time! I'm so clumsy and and and it's me we're talking about!" Her hands flew around as she sat back.

I caught her hands and held them in mine. When I met her eyes, they were so full of fear and sadness, like she was just waiting for my rejection. "I trust you because you make mistakes, because you're not perfect, because you are willing to admit when you're wrong, because you're determined to beat Hawkmoth no matter what, because you take other people's advice, because we're a team." I paused, pulling her closer to me. "I trust you, because you're you." Tears streamed down Ladybug's cheeks as she laid her head back down on my chest. I was certain she could hear me purring. "I mean you're paws-itivly clawsome"

"Stooop!" She groaned, hitting my chest slightly.

"Meow-ch!" She giggled, snuggling closer to me. "Goodnight Bugaboo," I whispered softly, planning on letting her sleep a couple hours before waking her. I continued to play with her hair, the ribbons finally coming out. I kept running my hands through it. I couldn't stop. It was just so beautiful and I'd never seen her wear it down before. "Plagg, claws in." My transformation faded, leaving me sitting there as myself.

"You do realize she doesn't love you in the same way right?" Plagg had to ask, breaking the peaceful bubble I was in.

"I know. But I also know she does love me. Whether she admits it or not. I'll stay her friend until she's ready." I sighed, knowing that would be awhile.

"And then there's Marinette. Whatcha gonna do about her?" Plagg mocked me, making me wish that Ladybug wasn't sleeping so I could yell at him.

"She's just a friend. Though we're dating now. She's in the same boat as me. In love with one person who doesn't return their feelings the same way." I sighed once again.

Plagg and I talked for while more, before I realized that the sun was coming up. "Plagg, claws out!" I tried to wake Ladybug up but she swatted my hand away.

"Just five more minutes. Please," she murmured, already back asleep.

"But Bugaboo, the sun is rising." I shook her gently, jostling her awake. She shot up and jumped off of me, looking very upset.

"That cannot happen again," she told me sternly. "What if our identities were accidentally revealed?" She was pacing, hands in her hair.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" She paused in her pacing, staring at me.

She opened her mouth but closed it before saying anything. She opened her mouth again, this time managing to get a few words out. "Of course it would be! We don't want Hawkmoth to figure it out if one of us is under his control."

I nodded, keeping my eyes downcast. "You should leave your hair down more often. It's pretty." With that, I turned and ran. I had school to get to.

Marinette

After Chat left, I knew I was going to be late for school, though his question kept swimming around in my head. Would sharing our identities be such a bad thing? I knew Tikki would disagree with me so I shoved the thought to the back of my mind and rushed to school. Not bothering to stop by my house.

"Where's the fire?" Alya joked as I dropped into my seat. I panted, trying to regain my breath. I ran m fingers through my hair, leaving it down for once. It has nothing to do with Chat saying it was pretty. Alya chuckled but then her face fell. I turned to see what she did, and of course it was Chloé.

"Do you seriously think I would let you get away with playing two boys at once?" Chloé leaned over me.

"I'm not playing two boys," I corrected. "I am dating Adrien and Chat and I are just friends." I heard Alya snickering behind me. I turned to face her, completely forgetting about Chloé. "What's so funny?"

"I'm pretty sure 'just friends' don't kiss each other." She even out finger quotes around just friends. I groaned, slamming my head on the desk.

"Wait what?" Adrien had joined our gathering. I raised my head in shame. "You kissed Chat Noir?"

I nodded. "The first time really was an accident. He kinda fell on me and he was right there," I explained. Adrien gave me a weird look, but I couldn't meet his eyes.

"You just said the first time. Was there another kiss?" I sighed, but nodded again. "Okay. That's fine. Everyone has a superhero crush. If Ladybug were to try to kiss me, I wouldn't push her away." He just shrugged and sat down, ignoring all of us.

Adrien likes Ladybug? Wait. That means Adrien likes me! I almost squealed in delight but Ms.Bustier's arrival stopped me. Chloé scampered to her seat.

"Alright class! Today we're going to be doing team exercises, and fitness training," She announced to the class, her hands clasped together. "You will be in teams of two. Chloé and Sabrina, Kim and Alix, Nino and Alya, Ivan and Mylène, Max and Nathaniel, Rose and Juleka, and finally Marinette and Adrien."

Adrien and I, on the same team. I can hardly say a sentence around him, so how in the world are we going to work together?

"Come on Marinette!" Adrien called out, offering his hand. I jumped up, tripping over my own feet. Adrien was right there, stopping me from falling. "I know you had a nice trip, but I don't want to wait to see you until next fall!" I slapped his arm, trying to cover up my laughs. Adrien was chuckling too.

"It's not my fault that I'm clumsy!" I tried to protest, which caused Adrien to laugh harder. He clutched his stomach, gasping for air.

"Since you seem to think that this is so funny, why don't you two go first?" We both stilled. Since we were laughing we had no idea what to do.

"Yes ma'am." I took a step forward, leading Adrien. "Just trust me okay?" I met his emerald eyes. They were so pure, so open.

"I trust you," he stated. "Now let's do this." His face creased in determinataion.

"Wait. You guys forgot something!" Ms. Bustier held two ropes in her hand. Adrien immediately grabbed them, tying my right hand and right leg to his left hand and left leg.

"Now let's do this." I smirked at him, knowing that we were both in top physical shape for this. Him from fencing and me from being Ladybug.

Adrien went to rush right into the course but I held him back. I studied it, taking note of the areas that we'd have to go super slow at.

The first obstacle was easy. We had to weave between cones, something we could do blindfolded. The second obstacle was a wall. It had roped hanging down, though there were no knots in them and there were no foot holds.

"Alright listen, here's the plan. We each grab a rope with our free hand, pulling it as tight as we can. Walk up the wall, one step at a time. Then to move our hands up more, we reach over with our ties ones." Adrien didn't waste a moment, gripping the rope like I told him. Slowly, we made our way up the wall and soon we were sitting on top panting.

"I guess the other teams will just have to get over it when we beat them." Adrien shot me a wink before pointing down. We jumped at the same time, landing and doing a perfect roll together.

The third obstacle was a bridge. It wasn't that high, for safety reasons, but it wobbled and had no solid form. We navigated it slowly, though it turned out to be easier than I thought.

The fourth obstacle was one that was meant to trip us up. It was a balance beam, but it had spinning wheels throughout it. In between the wheels was barely enough space for both of us.

I was first on, walking sideways to keep my balance. "When the open part comes around, we're gonna rush through. If we don't stop or stumble, we can make it all the way without having to wait for another rotation." I didn't even glance at Adrien. I was in my element. He thought exactly like Chat so I didn't have to worry about him not getting my crazy plans.

We were almost out when I felt a tug on my arm. Adrien had slipped, now barely holding himself off the ground. "I won't let you go Chat. I promise." I gripped his hand, yanking him up next to me. Only I pulled a little too hard, sending us off the end.

"At least we completed it before we fell," Adrien remarked.

"We're not done yet!" I exclaimed, hoisting him to his feet.

"Aye aye Ladybug!" My footsteps faltered, Adrien barely catching me in time. "What's wrong? I thought since you called me Chat you wanted to role play." He gave me a grin. "Chloé does it all the time."

When did I call Adrien Chat? They're nothing alike. "Ugh. I guess we can alley cat." I wanted to say more but we were approaching the final obstacle.

"Think we can take this on M'lady?" I gasped, meeting Adrien's eyes, which softened when he heard me. How come he sounded so much like Chat? "Don't worry. It's not that bad. We'll get through this together."

This obstacle would be in my nightmares if I wasn't Ladybug. It had platforms set at different heights, different spaces apart. There were ropes dangling at each platform.

"How about we only use the platforms as stepping stones?" Adrien spoke up. "Like for the higher ones we'll need more momentum and be higher on the role, but for the lower ones we won't need as much." He's such a genius.

I gave him a sharp nod. "Sounds good." We both moved off at the same time. Everything we did was in perfect sync. We didn't stop once throughout the whole obstacle.

At the end we collapsed on the ground, gulping down air. "Well done Chat." I grinned at Adrien, ruffling his hair with my free hand.

"Not bad Bugaboo." He winked, sending my heart into overdrive. "You should leave your hair down more often. It's pretty." I tried to keep myself calm but it wasn't working. That was the exact same thing Chat said earlier. I shook off that thought. They can't be the same person.

"Wow girl! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were Ladybug and Chat Noir!"

"You guys were amazing!"

Everyone was gushing over our skills together, but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone might figure me out.

"Alright class! Who's next?"

*i do not own Miraculous or the characters*