The envelope contained a precious treasure. Adrien knew that. He just wasn't sure it wasn't a forbidden treasure, whatever Plagg said.
And he didn't want to make a mistake now that could cost him everything.
He wanted to look. He'd almost looked, countless times, but he kept picturing Ladybug in the moment she'd entrusted him with her secret. She'd been shaken from more than just Flamethrower and everything that had happened beforehand, and she'd been…wary? Reluctant? Not afraid, but…. Hesitant, maybe. He wasn't sure. He just knew she hadn't been completely sure of herself. She'd been more vulnerable than confident, so he kept arguing with himself over what he should do, whether he should look or not. He kept trying to decide if she'd given up her identity simply because she hadn't been thinking clearly, and now that was all he could think about.
Instead of meeting up with Nino, Adrien claimed he wasn't feeling well (something not entirely untrue, given his churning stomach) and apologized to Nino once he was safely home. He spent the rest of Saturday curled up on his bed staring at the envelope while ignoring Plagg's near-constant insistence that he just look in it already. Plagg didn't see the harm in looking, but despite trying to explain it, Adrien soon realized the conversation had changed into Plagg demanding more camembert. (This was apparently a subject not to be discussed when not adequately fortified, and Adrien was feeling generous so he indulged Plagg even though he himself had no appetite at all.)
Truthfully, Adrien wouldn't have done anything differently on Sunday had he not had commitments, but Nathalie had reminded him of the appointment with the tailor over breakfast and it had been a long time since he'd been able to lie to her about anything besides his activities as Chat Noir. Still, once he got there, his head wasn't in it and everyone noticed. Everyone except his father, of course. He didn't have any chance to see his father on Sunday. But everyone else, from Nathalie to Nino, certainly knew something was up.
Nino, however, was the only one who cared enough to ask as opposed to assume.
"C'mon, dude," he said that afternoon when Adrien been able to meet up with him, "we were supposed to hang out. Y'know, enjoy your free time, especially since you bailed on me yesterday." The words were said teasingly but with enough concern that Adrien wondered for a moment if his mostly-sleepless night was showing on his face—despite his usual activities. Still, Nino moved on with barely a pause, adding, "If you don't want to go to a movie, at least come up with something else to do. That, or tell me what's up with you."
Nino had waited until they'd reached the park nearest his house to dig his heels in. It was on the way to the theatre—a movie had been the original plan—but Adrien had been quieter than usual all day. His tailor had finally called off the fitting, claiming he couldn't work with Adrien if he didn't even try to stop fidgeting and cooperate, and had promptly phoned Nathalie to reschedule. Adrien knew he would be in for a lecture when he got home, from her even if this rebelliousness didn't warrant a warning from his father, and he'd waved off his driver in favour of walking to Nino's. He'd hoped the walk would clear his head.
He'd been wrong.
And Nino could tell.
"Sorry," Adrien said. "I've just got a lot on my mind." He still carried Ladybug's picture with him—he couldn't bear to leave it at home—so he had it tucked into the pocket over his heart. Plagg occupied the other pocket, as Adrien didn't want to risk any harm coming to the picture—be that from claws, drool, or 'accidental' ingestion.
Adrien trusted Plagg with a lot, but there were many, many other things with which he did not trust the kwami.
"Girl trouble?"
Adrien shot Nino a surprised look—how could he possibly know?—and Nino snorted, dissolving into laughter. "I was kidding, dude. Seriously? You have girl trouble? You?"
"It's complicated," Adrien hedged, trying to avoid the subject.
"If it's related to girls, it's always complicated. C'mon, who is it? Can't be Chloé unless you're trying to figure out how to get rid of her, but, seriously, she's—"
"Can we please not talk about this?"
Nino shrugged. "Hey, let me have my moment, okay? You don't need to work to get girls to actually notice you exist. So if you're not just trying to shake someone, colour me interested."
Adrien hesitated. He told Nino almost everything. The only one who really knew more of the truth than Nino was Plagg—and Tikki, now. "I'm not trying to shake someone," he said slowly. "I'm just…." He trailed off. "I don't really know myself."
Nino stared at him for a full five seconds before the truth dawned. He groaned, and Adrien knew exactly which conclusion Nino had reached. He'd been careless with his tongue once, and Nino—being the good friend he was—had never let him forget it. "Dude, I know you're, like, a closet fan of Ladybug and Chat Noir that would rival Alya, but c'mon. Ladybug's probably with Chat Noir. I mean, they fight together all the time. You can't seriously be trying to figure out how to catch her eye."
Adrien wished Ladybug was with Chat Noir in that way. "We don't know they're together," he pointed out instead. As much as he didn't want to have this argument, it was better to have it out again than to try to think of some way to discuss his real problem with Nino. He couldn't exactly ask what to do about the picture in the envelope and get advice when it came to figuring out if Ladybug really did want him to know the truth or not.
Plagg really was no help. The additional camembert had only made him sleepy, and when he was awake, he'd only expressed his disbelief that Adrien had opened the envelope but not actually looked inside. It didn't matter to him that Adrien was wary because Ladybug still hadn't seemed comfortable with the idea. Plagg didn't think that was a good enough argument, especially when Adrien really wanted to know the truth.
Adrien wanted Ladybug to be happy with the idea of him knowing, and unlike Plagg, he didn't think her giving him the envelope necessarily meant that. He didn't want her to feel obliged, and her tone had contradicted her words even when she'd insisted that she wanted him to know. He was inclined to believe what he'd seen than what she'd said; the tremor in her arm, the slight crease in her forehead, the tension in her shoulders, the way she'd bitten her lip and avoided looking him in the eye—that all told him more than her words.
Adrien had allowed himself to be caught up in his daydreams of future possibilities long enough to open the envelope. He wasn't sure whether to be thankful or not that his concerns over what Ladybug might really want had stopped him from ever looking inside.
He really did want to know the truth.
But the truth wasn't worth losing her favour forever.
He could wait a little longer if it meant she would still smile when she saw him.
Nino snorted, not buying Adrien's current argument any more than he had last time. "The only reason they wouldn't be is if they're already tight with someone else. Seriously, dude, can't you pick someone attainable for your crushes?"
Adrien smiled sheepishly, and Nino thankfully changed the subject. "Okay, fine, so what're we gonna see?" He started naming off the newest releases, but it wasn't until they got to the theatre and ran into Alya and Marinette just inside the building that Adrien remembered he'd never gotten back to Marinette when she'd invited him to the movies on Friday. In the scramble to return Ladybug's Miraculous and the wonder over if she'd looked to find out the truth or if he should look in his own envelope, he'd completely forgotten about his run-in with poor Marinette.
Judging by the way she went red and tried to hide behind Alya, she hadn't.
"Hey, guys," Alya said easily. "What brings you here?"
"Adrien needed a distraction," Nino replied before Adrien had a chance to speak.
Alya grinned. "So did Marinette. Maybe we should just let them distract each other?"
Marinette squeaked.
Adrien wished she weren't so uncomfortable around him. He liked her. She had a bright smile and a lilting laugh that always managed to lift his spirits, and she was a genuinely nice person. She was a great friend to Alya, a good friend to Nino—and to him, even considering the few real conversations they'd had; he thought he could count her as a friend—and friendly to everyone. Well, the general exception was Chloé, to whom she was typically decent and occasionally less than tolerable, but considering that Chloé treated everyone outside of her social class as unworthy of being scum on her shoe, Adrien couldn't exactly blame Marinette.
Chloé had gotten…pushier and more self-centred as she'd grown up, particularly in public. She brandished her name like a shield or a battering ram, depending on the circumstances, perfectly content with using it to get her way or to make her point. She didn't try to rein in her emotions or hide what she thought about things. She didn't fear being swallowed in her father's shadow. She didn't wish people would forget she was Chloé Bourgeois and just see her as Chloé. She isolated more people that way than she realized.
But Marinette was the baker's daughter, not the mayor's. She was brave, funny, smart, and had a great eye for design. He wanted to get to know her better, at the very least as well as he knew Chloé. He'd seen a side to Marinette when he'd protected her as Chat Noir that he'd never observed first hand as Adrien Agreste, and he…. He wanted to see more of that.
Yet whenever he thought he'd seen her glancing at him, she studiously avoided his gaze. He wasn't sure why. He tried to get her to feel more comfortable around him, but he was making about as much progress when it came to being Marinette's friend (a good friend, not just a school friend) as he was when it came to getting Ladybug to notice that his heart belonged to her.
Not getting back to Marinette after she'd asked him to go to the movies had probably been a major step backwards on that front, though. But perhaps he could still salvage something from that. "I did take a rain check on a movie invite the other day," Adrien said slowly, glancing at Nino to make sure it was all right with him.
Nino's grin made it perfectly clear he was okay with that—although Adrien wasn't sure if that was because Nino could spend time with Alya or because Adrien wouldn't be able to mull over what to do about Ladybug.
Alya looked ecstatic. Marinette looked like she might faint. Adrien turned to Alya, about to ask what she thought the four of them should see, but Alya beat him to the punch. "Great! Adrien, Marinette, you catch that movie." She pushed Marinette toward Adrien. Neither of them was expecting that, and Marinette collided with him—which said absolutely nothing for his reflexes. Clearly, his head wasn't in a game and he was very lucky they weren't under attack at the moment. Marinette mumbled her apologies at the same time he did, but Alya had already moved on and turned a blinding smile on Nino. "We should talk about that stunt you pulled with Manon on Friday."
Nino suddenly looked a good deal less comfortable. He chuckled nervously. "Uh, right. But after the movie, yeah? What do you think we should see?" He turned to Marinette in a vain attempt to avoid Alya's eye. "Did you have anything in mind?"
She wordlessly shook her head.
"Oh, they can go on ahead of us," Alya said, grabbing Nino's arm. "You and me? Now that Manon's not here, we're going to talk about why we don't promise kids ice cream to behave when it's nearly time for supper."
Adrien shrugged when Nino shot him a desperate look. He wasn't sure how to rescue Nino from that kind of danger. He looked back at Marinette and smiled. "Why don't we see what's playing while we're waiting?" he suggested.
"Good idea." The words were a whisper. Marinette looked spooked by something, and Adrien suddenly felt awful. Of course Marinette looked spooked by something. She might not have been home when the fire had broken out, but she would have heard what had happened from her parents if no one else.
He hadn't thought to check Alya's blog for Friday's updates, but it no doubt held an account of everyone—by story if not name—who had been affected by Flamethrower that could be found, scrounged either through various media outlets or followers of the Ladyblog. Alya had probably spent half the night on the phone, trying to keep her friend calm, and the other half of the night searching for a pattern—and if anyone could find a pattern, it would be Alya. If she hadn't found something Friday night, she would have kept searching all day Saturday—whatever part of it she hadn't spent with Marinette, at least—and possibly a good chunk of last night and this morning, too.
Adrien hoped she hadn't found a pattern in it all, though. Alya might not realize why Marinette had been targeted, but if she had, then Alya had every reason to be afraid for Marinette. And if Marinette had even an inkling that she had been targeted, that Flamethrower's choice of victims hadn't been random….
Really, it was a wonder either of them looked as well as they did. He'd been up half the night contemplating looking in the envelope and arguing with Plagg about what Ladybug meant and what she really wanted—he would have appreciated talking to Tikki when it came to that—but he was used to being up half the night. The girls certainly had no reason to sacrifice sleep on so regular a basis, even if Alya did sometimes go out to try to catch Ladybug and Chat Noir in action.
So of course Alya would bring Marinette to a movie, to try to distract her with a story, with something that wasn't real so that she didn't have time to think about what could have been—what almost was or would have been, had he not been able to return Ladybug's Miraculous. It was lucky indeed that despite the delay of the damage restoration when it came to Blademaster, no one had realized Ladybug had been missing, unable to transform—Alya included, as far as he could tell, since he'd have heard of it from Nino.
There was also the matter of Philippe. Adrien really should try to find him before their next practice. He might have no memory of what had happened, but everyone else did and Adrien didn't care for a repeat, however it might be brought on.
But Marinette was in front of him, not Philippe, and although she hadn't strayed from his side, she was staring at her shoes, not at him or the movie posters that lined the walls of the theatre. "I heard about the fire at your parents' bakery," he said quietly. "I know I wouldn't exactly understand, but if you ever need someone else to talk to…." He trailed off, not sure what to say. Marinette had probably discussed everything at length with Alya and she more than likely had no desire to talk about this to anyone else. He was already beginning to regret bringing it up.
Marinette's head jerked up and she stared at him, eyes wide. "W-what?"
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry to hear about the fire." What had Ladybug said? "Erasing the damage doesn't erase the feelings. The memories, I mean. So I'll listen, if you ever want to talk."
Marinette had gone white. Her mouth worked, and for a moment, nothing came out. Finally, "Um, uh, thank you." She swallowed. "That's really, ah, nice of you, Adrien."
Adrien smiled again. Marinette made a funny sound in the back of her throat and then excused herself to get a drink of water from the fountain. Adrien sighed and leaned against the wall, waiting for her to return. Some friend he was turning out to be. This was a prime example of his luck.
A quick scan of the crowd revealed that Alya had dragged Nino out of view, whether that was back outside or over to the arcade area where they had tables. Adrien checked his pockets; Plagg was half asleep, and the envelope….
Adrien froze.
The envelope was gone.
The envelope with Ladybug's picture was gone.
"Plagg," Adrien hissed. "Wake up."
The kwami jerked and muttered something about cheese.
Adrien scowled. "Plagg!"
Plagg yawned and blinked open his eyes. "What?"
Confident that Plagg was awake, Adrien let his jacket drop back to again hang loosely open. He didn't need to see Plagg to talk to him. "Where's the envelope?" he murmured, trying not to move his lips.
"How should I know?"
"You were right beside it."
There was a snort. "It was in your other pocket, not this one. I don't keep track of your things."
"Plagg, it was Ladybug's envelope."
"I didn't eat it."
"Plagg—"
"Why do you think I've eaten your stuff every time you lose something?"
Adrien growled and straightened up. It had to be around here somewhere. He just needed to retrace his steps…and hope no one had found it and thrown it out, thinking the most precious treasure in the world was mere garbage.
Adrien kept his eyes glued to the floor, only aware enough of his surroundings to avoid running into someone, but he saw no sign of the envelope. He knew he'd had it after he'd met up with Nino—he'd checked—which meant the envelope was somewhere between the theatre and Nino's house. If it hadn't been thrown out or blown away.
He should never have taken it with him where it could get lost. He should have left it at home. He could have hidden it well enough. He just hadn't wanted to leave his lady behind. He'd wanted to keep her picture with him, by his heart.
And now he'd lost Ladybug's picture, the key to her true identity, and….
"Ah…. Adrien?" The hesitant voice was enough to catch his attention, and Adrien looked up to see Marinette smiling weakly at him. "Did you lose something? Do you need help looking?"
Sweet, sweet Marinette. Adrien smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Marinette, but it's just something that fell out of my pocket, and it can be anywhere between here and Nino's." He couldn't let her realize how important this was to him when he couldn't even explain what it was.
"We don't have to see a movie," Marinette said. Adrien realized she'd lost her stutter and had said three entire sentences to him without tripping over her tongue. Having something to focus on seemed to help her, and she was acting more like when she'd helped Chat Noir. "If this is important to you, I can help you find it. Just tell me what you're looking for." Adrien didn't answer right away, but fortunately she looked over her shoulder, already distracting herself. Frowning slightly, she asked, "Where are Alya and Nino?"
"I didn't notice when they disappeared," Adrien admitted.
"I'll text her and…." Marinette trailed off as she pulled out her phone. Her eyebrows shot up as she noticed a line of messages on the screen. "I'm clearly missing something," she muttered as she scrolled through the list before punching in her password. "Alya must have been texting me for most of the last five minutes."
"Then you should find her and talk to her," Adrien said, not liking that he had to use this as an excuse to get rid of her but not sure how to explain what he was really looking for. How could he tell her he was looking for an envelope but wasn't even sure of its contents? "I'm really sorry, Marinette. I promise I'll make this up to you. We can go to a movie another time. Text me when you find Alya and Nino, all right? I'm going to keep searching."
He waited only long enough to hear her distracted agreement before he fled, hurrying to retrace his steps before it was too late.
Marinette blinked when she looked up and realized Adrien had already gone. Whatever he was missing was clearly important to him, even if he didn't want to tell her exactly what it was. She wondered if he'd lost Plagg. Given how she'd felt with Tikki—well, without Tikki, to be precise—she wouldn't put it past him. Especially since, despite all her expectations, Adrien—Chat Noir—had not yet looked inside the envelope Ladybug had given him.
Marinette wasn't sure what to think of that. She'd expected him to open it immediately, and she certainly hadn't expected to run into Adrien today. Adrien might be Chat Noir, but her brain still had trouble reconciling the two of them and consequently she'd defaulted to her usual nervous self around Adrien. She wasn't sure whether or not to be relieved that he hadn't yet looked in the envelope, especially since she knew he would—likely sooner rather than later.
But perhaps that was for the best. Sharing her secret with Chat Noir was different than sharing her secret with Alya would be, and not just because Alya ran the Ladyblog. Alya would keep her secret if it came to it. Marinette was sure of that. But she didn't want to put Alya in that situation if she could help it, and Chat Noir…. Chat Noir knew what he was up against. He knew about Hawk Moth, knew what they were up against and what the risks were. Alya, however much she understood about the process of the transformations, did not.
Marinette checked her other cell phone, but there were no messages from Chat Noir. Plagg likely was safe, then. She might not have had the nerve to tell Adrien she'd looked in the envelope he'd given her—she would tell him, eventually, once she figured out how—but if Plagg had gone missing for whatever reason, Chat Noir would tell Ladybug. It had been her plan when the reverse had happened, after all. Help, however little, was still help.
In the meantime, she could figure out what the heck Alya meant by all her messages. Amid the garbled Told you so's and You totally owe me's was the general gist of Dreams come true, girl! Meet me ASAP. We have planning to do.
Since Marinette's brain was still stuck in the Adrien is Chat Noir rut, Alya's messages made less sense than usual. Marinette didn't bother asking what Alya meant in her reply, though; it sounded like something best explained in person. Where are you? You still with Nino?
Café across the street.
Of course. Alya meant well and had probably hoped to give Marinette time alone with Adrien. She wouldn't put it past Alya and Nino to have set up this meeting behind her back, either. She didn't know if Alya had actually said anything about her crush on Adrien to Nino—she rather doubted it—but Nino would do a lot for Alya without demanding a full explanation. Or any explanation, really.
Marinette headed across the street and spotted them easily. Both had drinks and there was a partial piece of pain au chocolat left on a plate between them. That alone confirmed Marinette's suspicion that they hadn't really intended to join her and Adrien for a movie, but what confused her was the fact that Nino had drawn his chair next to Alya and they were both looking at— Was that a picture?
Was that her picture?
Marinette blanched, suddenly having a very good idea of what Adrien had lost.
Alya must have noticed her expression. "No, no, it's fine," she said quickly, gesturing to a seat. She hesitated as Marinette dropped down next to Nino. He held the photograph, and a quick glance confirmed what Marinette had suspected. "I mean, it is fine, right? Why'd Adrien run out on you?"
"He said he lost something," Marinette murmured. "He was going to look for it."
"We found it," Nino said, passing her picture along to her.
"I found it," Alya corrected. "I noticed it after you two walked off, and I wouldn't let Nino interrupt you once I realized what it was. You do realize what this means, right?"
It meant Adrien was Chat Noir and that he no longer had the means to see that she was Ladybug. "It means you think Adrien dropped an envelope and you opened it?"
"Hey, have some faith in us. It was already open. And your picture slid partway out of it, and when we figured out that Adrien had dropped it…." Nino shrugged and jerked his head toward Alya. "You'd think she had figured out Ladybug's identity."
Alya gave Nino a playful punch in the shoulder, but Marinette couldn't even appreciate the irony of Nino's words. Adrien had opened the envelope? And he still didn't know who she was? Hadn't he looked?
Or had he looked but thought she hadn't looked and had just been acting so as not to give away that he was Chat Noir before he thought she was ready to know just like she'd been doing with him?
Marinette groaned and dropped her head into her hands. This was giving her a headache.
"No, no, no, you don't understand, girl!" Alya exclaimed. "Adrien has your picture! That's gotta mean he likes you! Just look at the signs. How often he waves at you? Winks? Pats you on the back? Goes out of his way to give you a compliment?"
Marinette wished it were that simple, but Alya was reading way more into this than she knew. Adrien only had her picture because it was Ladybug's picture. Alya clearly hadn't stopped to think about how Adrien had gotten said picture. Marinette sighed. If an ounce of this were true, she'd be head over heels, but it wasn't, and she couldn't pretend otherwise. She raised her head. "Alya, that's my picture."
Alya laughed. "That's my point!"
"No, I mean, it's my picture. You took it, remember? Last summer? I was…." Marinette had no idea what to claim she had been going to do with it. "I was debating giving it to Adrien," she said carefully, trying to mix truth into her lie, "and lost my nerve. He hasn't even seen it."
"It's open."
"Because I'd decided against it and was going to take the picture back and…." Marinette shook her head. "Never mind. You guys misread the situation. I wish you hadn't, but you did."
Nino blinked at her. Alya looked equally as blank, for once at a loss of words. "But, wait, let me just get this straight," Nino said at last. "You like Adrien, right?"
Marinette moaned but nodded, sure her face was as red as Ladybug's suit by this point.
"So we'll just work on setting you up! C'mon, I can totally help. I've got your back, dude."
Marinette could imagine Nino's help. It would probably be along the same lines as Alya dialling Adrien's number and handing the ringing phone to her, except Nino would probably do something in person to shove them together. It was easier to speak with Adrien when she imagined him as Chat Noir—Tikki had been right about that after all, for all that it had been impossible before she'd realized the truth—but that didn't mean Marinette would appreciate surprises.
"Don't give us that look, Marinette. With intel from Nino and some coaching from me, you'll be talking to Adrien like a pro in no time, and it'll be a cinch to actually con him into a date."
"Besides, I need to help you out somehow," Nino added. "Before we knew what was going on, I texted Adrien. We thought he ran out looking for us but didn't hear us call." Nino frowned. "Wait, if this picture's yours, what's Adrien looking for?"
Marinette knew exactly what Adrien was looking for, but she shrugged apologetically. "He didn't tell me. He just said he'd lost it somewhere between your place and here, and—" She broke off. "Wait, what do you mean you texted him?"
Nino wordlessly passed his phone over, and Marinette swallowed as she read the line of messages.
She wished Alya and Nino had never gotten involved—how was she going to live this down, even if Adrien was Chat Noir?—but it was too late now.