A.n.- Hey All! Back for more torture, I'm touched. So I only have one story recommendation for you this week and it's by callmeakumatized called Hey, Jealousy. She wrote it as a birthday gift to me ( So maybe I'm biased on this recommendation, but it melted my heart and makes me fangirl when I read it...so you should too). The one-shots are on their way as long as I catch up because I was on vacation the last week. **Also this is unbeta-ed because mine has a life, I went through it the best I could and will update the changes as soon as possible.

Chapter 22

"He was totally checking you out, you do realize that, don't you?" Alya bumped her friend with her hip enjoying the pink dust growing across her friend's cheeks.
"He was not," Marinette shot back defensively. She was starting to regret going out for celebratory coffee.
"The guy remembered your order and he gave us our coffee for free after the magic you pulled." Alya enjoyed a sip of her drink secretly studying her best friend. She for sure thought that there would be some backsliding after what happened with Adrien, but it didn't; she seemed happy.
"I asked him about his day, how is that in any way flirting? I'm a regular there," Marinette replied.

"He called you his favorite regular." As her friend try to come up with a counter-argument Alya simply shook her head and laughed. Marinette glared as she got out her keys to the apartment. "Sometimes girl you are too clueles.." her voice faded out as her mouth ran dry. "Mar, why is your apartment littered with purple lilacs?"
"What?" Marinette's gaze snapped from the floor only to see that her best friend was right; there were lilacs everywhere.

"How?"

"I'd say a sly cat has something to do with this." Alya picked up a card and waved it giddily.

"Let me see that." She snatched it out of her friend's hand and she had to scan it twice for the words to catch up to her brain.

Princess,

This apartment is now a fraction as beautiful as you are.
-Your Kitty

"I'd say someone is a smitten kitten. I wouldn't complain. I would die if Nino did this for me." It wasn't that she wasn't grateful, she was. The apartment was much livelier than before among the purple hues. The problem was she had never told Chat that lilacs were her favorite.

He could have gotten lucky, but what were the chances that he picked it on the first try? The people who knew were limited, besides her parents, Alya, Amelie, and Adrien. Maybe Chat had asked one of them, but it seemed unlikely.

The flowers were gorgeous but all they were doing was sending her right back to the first time Adrien showed up, flowers in hand. They represented first loves after all. The purple lilacs were taunting her of what she could never have.

"I've never seen this picture before," Alya stated pulling her from her bittersweet thoughts. She looked to the painting in question only to realize she hadn't noticed it either. It was hung on the wall that the door swung into at a very particular height. Her eyes soaked in the painting and she wondered how she never saw it before; it pictured a couple was walking close under an umbrella amongst the rain.

Marinette lifted the canvas to take a closer look only to reveal a fist-sized hole in the wall. That certainly explained the weird placement.

"Did you do that?" Alya whispered even though they were the only ones in the apartment.

"No." Even if she was angry, walking around the apartment dressed as ladybug punching holes in the walls was not her style. She doubted that Amelie could do something like this, not without breaking a hand. That left...Adrien.

He wouldn't have made the choice to do so unless his thoughts were clouded. It could ruin his hand or arm costing one of his photo shoots. She resisted the urge to reach out and run her fingers across the hole. What could have made him so angry that he would have done this?

"Adrien, are you ok? You've barely touched the cake in front of you." Amelie asked resting her hand on his arm. The motion jolted him from his absent-minded thoughts of loopholes to realize he was pushing the cake around his plate.

"What?" He wasn't sorry, all these cakes tasted the same. They were delicious but all his excitement for the reason they were cake tasting had dwindled. He watched as Amelie dismissed the staff after they set down another cake for them to try.

"I've noticed you've know, you've been distracted since the proposal. I need you to be honest, are you having second thoughts?" How badly he wanted to scream yes. Even if he was truthful with her, it wouldn't help the situation with her mom. His gut told him that word would get back to Mrs. Malone one way or another, then he would be back to square one.

"It's that girl that you had feelings for, isn't it?"

"I accidentally ran into her recently," he started. It technically wasn't a lie, it was being vague on purpose to avoid hurting her feelings. "She -uh has a new boyfriend. Says she's happy and she's moving on. It stirred up some what-if possibilities." His mind had not been focused on much besides Marinette since the proposal. Now he was more concerned on the loophole that he had yet to discover.

"Adrien, I understand. I think everyone struggles with that every now and then." There was something about the way she refused to look at him that gave him pause, but it was not the time to approach the subject. "Let's walk home, it's a nice day out. The driver can always follow us if it gets too hot." Before Adrien could protest she informed the staff that now wasn't the best time and they would reschedule for another day. She was back by his side and offered out her hand that he took.

The first couple minutes were in complete silence, both parties trying to figure out where to start. "If you need to step away from us for a bit or postpone the wedding...you would tell me, right? I would understand." Adrien almost tripped over the air caught in his stride. She was giving a way out? No, this was too good to be true.

His heart sank at the revelation that even if Amelie gave him the opportunity, there was no way that her mother would. She did say that if the wedding was called off she would release all of the information and make Marinette suffer with her career. Adrien didn't want to see if her bite was worse than her bark. He couldn't chance it, and as much as he cared about Amelie, he didn't know if he could trust her. Not with these glimpses of being her mother's puppet.

"I don't want to postpone the wedding," the lie scratched his throat as it passed through his mouth. He hated that he wasn't honest with her, but until he had some solid footing he was free falling in the worst possible way. His answer was enough to satisfy her as they returned to silence. They weren't far from the apartment now, things were starting to look familiar, like a bakery that was his second home for years.

"What if we asked Marinette's parents to do our cake?" Amelie asked as her face lit up.

"W-what?"

"We both love Mari's food, how much better are her parents? I'm sure they would, it would be great publicity for their store after all. It would be perfect! Could you add that to your list since you know them so well?" Adrien never thought the smell of croissants wafting in the air would make him nauseous...but it had.

Marinette didn't know if this made her a horrible maid of honor, but she didn't want to be shopping for wedding dresses right now. It wasn't that she was not happy for Amelie, she had more pressing thoughts than what dress style suited her friend more.

She didn't have time to interrogate Adrien when the lovebirds returned from the cake tasting. Instead, she had to make sure a snide comment from Alya didn't result in a fight. Adrien had helped the best he could, but he more so proved a distraction when he was anywhere near her, especially when he wore one of her favorite Gabriel designs that he made for Adrien. Thankfully, Alya had left without antagonizing the situation further.

Amelie had dragged her out claiming that if they didn't leave right then they would be late to the appointment. Thankfully the traffic was light, and they made it to the boutique with minutes to spare. The store was bursting with blushing brides wanting to find their dress, but Amelie stormed through them all and to the counter.

"Last name Marlone, we called ahead and set aside some Gabriel dresses." The clerk nodded and disappeared to pull the inventory. "Why don't you look around for the bridesmaids as they're pulling my dresses. I'll have someone fetch you when I have the first option on." Amelie suggested before she was ushered to a dressing room.

Marinette had every intention to head over to the right section but a white dress that caught her eye beckoned her over. It was a simple a line dress that would hug her body gracefully and the back was transparent except the white buttons that lined her spine and the intricate flower pattern laced on it.

An image of her at the altar with that dress clinging to her popped into her mind, but that wasn't where the focus stayed. In front of her was Chat Noir, smile split wider than she had ever seen.

"You're so beautiful, Princess." The intensity in which he was staring made her eyes fall to the floor fighting the burning sensation that crossed the bridge of her nose. But when her gaze flickered back to him things had changed. It wasn't Chat standing in front of her but Adrien...and he wore the same affectionate gaze.

"I will always love you." He promised, but she was distracted by the shapes he was drawing on the back of their joint hands.

"Adrien, what happened to Chat?" He simply smiled with a boyish grin.

"You know," was all she got in reply. She knew? What did that mean?

"Miss Marinette?" Slowly the daydream around her crumbled leaving only reality behind.

"Yes?" She was more breathless than she would like to admit.

"Amelie is waiting for you."

"I'll be right there." She didn't know how she kept her voice steady or what trick her mind was playing on her, but she wasn't amused. Her fingers brushed the dress again almost wistful. Things would never be normal with Chat (the kind that Amelie and Adrien had) even if she wanted them to...it was in both their blood to fight villains and save the day. Could they both give up something like that?

There was no use worrying if it wouldn't do any good. She held her head high, so no one would suspect how she currently was a victim of her own thoughts and headed straight to the back room. When she first saw Amelie, she stopped dead in her tracks. Why was it so fluffy?

"What do you think?" Desperation leaked from her voice.

"It's-" The dress wasn't Gabriel's usual style, maybe it was an off-season for him. "It's... pretty," she lied weakly earning an eye roll. It was pretty…it just wasn't her style.

"If you're going to lie, you might want to work on your poker face."

"It's not that bad, I just think that the design would work better if it was a modified a-line instead to show off the beading work at the bottom." She started cautiously not wanting to criticize her idol's work despite him not being present. "And-and with a couple adjustments the dress would stunning if it had a drop sleeve attached.

"Mar...What if you designed my dress?"

"What?!"

"You're basically Gabriel Agreste's golden intern anyway. What my mother doesn't know can't hurt her. You can design it and the make it in-shop. It would be our little secret and I would tell people you are my designer; it would help jumpstart your career."

"But"-

"You know me better than anyone else Mari, so what do you say?"

"Come on Alya you can do this. It's Nino, he'll love you no matter what." It wasn't much of a pep talk, but it was the only thing stopping her from leaving the Chinese food at his doorstep and high tailing it out of there. She let out a breath of anxiety. If Marinette could stand up to Adrien, there was no reason that she couldn't ask her boyfriend a simple question…well, questions. They would provide an outlet for open and honest conversations and hopefully lead to getting stronger as a couple. But that didn't make it any less nerve-racking.

If Nino was not the "he" that Chat Noir was referring to, she was about to make a complete fool of herself. It would explain why he was avoiding her. Alya just hoped that his actions were more from shock than disgust, but that could only be determined if he let her inside.

When, she corrected herself when he let her inside. She knocked quickly before she lost any more of her courage. As she waited for her boyfriend to open the door she swore she could feel time dragging its feet. Or maybe it was slow in comparison to how fast her heart was pounding in her chest.

The door opened enough for her to see Nino's face and she sheepishly held up the food.

"Can we talk?" She asked any gusto lost from her voice. She was terrified, what if she screwed things up too badly between them for repair? Hiding something this big was a huge weight on their relationship after all. To her relief, Nino opened the door wider and stepped back to let her in.

His new apartment was a decent size, but the lack of decor made it less homey than she was used to. She would never have found it if Nino's old roommate didn't give her the address.

"Sorry I've been distracted, there's been a mountain of boxes to sort through."

"You could have called me, I could have helped." Then she wouldn't have been staring at her phone the last couple days silently begging for a reply.

"I figured you were...busy. I didn't want to get in your way."

"Say it," she snapped. She hadn't meant for the tone to be harsh, but she refused to skirt around the issue; it was too important. "Say whatever it is you're holding back."

"I know who you are.." he stumbled over the first couple words before strength linked within his voice. "What you do, why you keep running off during important conversations."

"And?" She replied, the word strained against her throat and her chest caved in allowing only shallow breaths. This was it, where he could say it was too much and he didn't want anything to do with her. That's why most superheroes were alone, wasn't it?

"And—I still love you, all of you." Alya found she couldn't conjure up even a sound at his answer. She rushed towards him food forgotten on the front table and cling to him as she buried her face into his chest. "Alya," he cooed affectionately and began stroking her hair to calm her. She had worried for years on end what Nino would think or how he would react and now she had her answer; he would love her regardless. In theory, she knew that he would, but experiencing the overwhelming emotions tied to it was completely different.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you..." her sentences were broken by a string of tears flooding her eyes.

"It's okay. I understand. I should be the one feeling guilty. I didn't pick up on any of the hints." Their bodies rocked back and forth until the tears subsided.

"How did you figure it out?" She pulled back enough to look him in the eyes.

"It was on our date," he leaned in pressing his lips tenderly to her forehead. "I was about to ask you to move in with me, but you were distracted when you saw Ladybug. The way you raced after her, it was like you knew you would be able to keep up even though she had a head start. So, I followed you. I watched you duck down an alley but when I got there, it was empty. Then People saw Rena start chasing Ladybug seconds later. Something sorta clicked then and I knew it was you." Alya allowed his answer to wash over completely while also making a mental note to be more careful in the future.

"Wait, what do you mean, move in with you?" Had she been that oblivious? She would have remembered...the hints. A new wave of guilt spread to the tips of her body.

"Yeah..." Nino rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "I just figured that we had been together for a while and it was time to take the next step...if you want to—that is?"

"Yes," Alya lips broke out into a smile. "Absolutely yes." Nino leaned and captured her lips till both parties needed air causing the two to break apart.

It took all of 10 minutes into digging into the food before Alya spoke up with her other concern. "Nino, did you tell anyone else who I was?" She saw him wince out of the corner of her eye. That was answer enough.

"I told one person, I just didn't know how to deal with the news at first. He's trustworthy, I promise." So he did tell Chat Noir, although she never thought that they were that close.

"How did you meet?" Confusion flashed over his features as some noodles draped themselves from his mouth.

"Only since middle school, you're his friend too you know." He replied allowing a snort to be exhaled.

"Who are you talking about?" Alya raised her eyebrow with confusion.

"Adrien, who did you think I was talking about?" Adrien. Part of her face paled; that left two options, either Adrien was the one who told Chat Noir…or he was her leather-clad partner. She should have seen it before…but that meant…

"Something came up, I have to go." Her half-eaten plate seemed irrelevant at this point. Nino's eyebrows knitted together in bewilderment.

"But—" He was cut off by a quick kiss from his girlfriend.

"I will text you later," he didn't need to know anything until she had the solid truth. She didn't know who Adrien told his secret too, and she wasn't going to out him to Nino, it wasn't hers to tell. "I have a cat to skin," she muttered under her breath.

Why was this a good idea again? She didn't know why the butterflies started fluttering around her stomach. It could be that she was wearing the lingerie now that she was stripped of her clothes. However, now that she was at his apartment half of her nerve rushed out the nearest window. She was going to use the outfit to her advantage and gain some answers.

'Does it really matter how he knew your favorite flower?' Her mind chimed in and she dismissed the thought.

Marinette decided that she was going to open the discussion of moving in together today. With Adrien and Amelie's wedding gaining closer with every passing day she needed to find a way to move out of her apartment. The right time was critical for the conversation because she knew exactly how many what-ifs were involved with living together with a superhero. Somehow it felt right despite all the arguments that could be brought up against the idea.

"Mar, are you ok in there?" Do you need something?" She heard his knuckles rasp on the door.

"I'll take a bottled water. I'll be right out." She listened for fading footsteps before opening the door.

"I never got to say thank you for the flowers the other day." She raised her voice, so he could hear her in the kitchen.

"It was no...prob..lem." Marinette turned in time to see Chat Noir in the archway of the kitchen slack-jawed. She could feel his eyes wandering the length of her body hungrily.

"See something you like?" She did a turn modeling off her Chat Noir inspired lingerie. The black lacey set was stitched with green thread for a pop of color and two bells rested on either hip with a bright green ribbon. The set included a set of cat ears which she was currently adorning her head.

"I-I,...Mari...hey. " There was a surge of confidence that came with Chat Noir not being able to string together a simple sentence.

"Does this cat got your tongue?" Her honey voice dripped as she made her way towards him. It would be her luck that she would choose the important part to trip over herself sending her body hurling into his. She winced into his chest, hopefully, her accident didn't make her any less alluring. His hands snapped to her forearms to provide support as a rumble of a laugh escaped him. She looked up sheepishly only to see his green eyes shining back lustfully.

"Always," he replied before his lips sunk on hers. He hoisted her up on the countertop his hands gripping her hips forcefully pulling their bodies flush together. His mouth wandered off hers to the exposed skin of her neck earning a low moan.

"Are you sure that your friends won't stop by?" She struggled to ask as Chat found a pulse point. Not that she was worried about Ladybug, but if Alya saw her like this with him, she would never live it down.

"They wouldn't come over unannounced…Don't worry, we have the place all to ourselves." He purred as his nose ran the course of her neck. "I wish I could feel you… without these…but" She could feel his claws trace down her arm. He still wanted to keep his identity a secret, as much as that stung, she understood. She had been trying to tell him for so long she had lost count.

"Wait right here." She hopped off the counter and ventured to the bathroom where she kept her belongings and came back with a black strip of fabric in her hands.

"Blindfold me." The statement took Chat back, it was a command. His fingers brushed the fabric in her hands before he grasped it. "I trust you." He had no words, so instead, he reached around her and began guiding it over her eyes.

"Are you ok?" Her smile grew when he brought the inside of her hand to his lips and place a tender kiss.

"Plagg, claws in." He mumbled against her hand and the green light surrounded him reverting him back to his civilian form. His heart skipped when he heard her breath hitch. "Follow me." He whispered intertwining their fingers leading her straight to his bedroom. "You're so beautiful," he breathed out helping her up on the bed.

"And you're overdressed." She grasped at the air until she reached the hem of his shirt and peeled it off him allowing it to fall to the ground. The blindfold prevented her from seeing, but the darkness allowed her other senses to heighten. Every nip from his teeth or the fiery sensation his touch left was amplified.

"Chat," she moaned. She hated that fact that he had more power than she did in that moment; that would have to change.

Before she had a chance to flip things in her favor the two bodies tensed when the sounds of screams filled the air. A string of curses fell out of his mouth and Marinette groaned. Not now. "You should go."

"But," He started to protest but stopped when Marinette grabbed his hand.

"Paris needs you. I'll be here." Her words were enough for him.

"Plagg, claws out." Even with the blindfold on, she could see bits of the green magic through the fabric. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere."

She had to lay still for a moment just to catch her breath. The ghost of his lips and hands still tingled across her exposed skin even though she knew that he wasn't with her anymore. Nothing killed the mood faster than the akuma, she ripped off the blindfold and her eyes skimmed his apartment once more. After a couple minutes, she would follow the sounds of whatever disturbance was plaguing Paris and her love life. She had every intention to follow him when something crumpled on the floor caught her attention. It was a black blob and extremely hard to miss. It was Chat Noir's shirt that she had stripped off his body. For a second she smirked, her mind replaying the memory from not even 15 minutes prior. Then her smile faded when she picked up the shirt and the scent overtook her.

Instantly she dropped it on the bed and backed away. Her body began to shake, and she couldn't stop herself. There were too many coincidences that presented themselves to be ignored. It had to be a mistake, had to be. But the scent was too distinct, after all, she had smelled it throughout the years, and what other explanation was there to be to why the shirt that she saw Adrien wear earlier was in her boyfriend's apartment...Adrien was Chat Noir.

A.n.- So I'm going to leave it there. I'd love your thoughts and theories. Till next time!