Notes:

Have some Adrienette with a dash of Plagg/Adrien friendship with a heavy dollop of angst. There will be Ladynoir next chapter. Also, for those who were asking about it, I have started the time travel Marichat fic. I will post chapter one once I have completed it. I hope to have it finished before I leave this weekend.

Part 6

Adrien was miserable the next morning. By the time he had finally left Marinette's it was after eleven o'clock. On the nights he patrolled he tended to stay out way later, but the emotional toll of finally admitting to another person that wasn't Plagg why he was torn between the two girls was more of a burden than a reprieve. Plagg had belched out a few questions about why he wasn't ecstatic that Marinette liked him. "Both of your lovebugs want you," he had drawled. But that hadn't been enough to ease his fears. He had tried explaining all of it after The Tower Incident, but Plagg hadn't gotten it then so Adrien doubted he would get it now.

"Humans," was all Plagg had said before Adrien tried to sleep a few hours before his morning workout.

His mind spun with worry. He never really got to the bottom of Marinette's lies. She obviously had her own issues and he had not only dumped his problems on her, but also Adrien's. But, since Marinette didn't know Adrien was both guys, Chat had seemingly revealed things about Adrien that neither of them had any business knowing. He spent no less than thirty minutes wondering if she would treat Adrien different during class.

Class had him thinking of Alya. Would Marinette mention her meeting with Chat? Probably not. Marinette wasn't the type of person to go blabbing about other people's personal stuff. Then again, she had lied to everyone so did he really know her? And Alya was her best friend. Would their trust outrank his trust in her? He groaned as he thought over the next possible post on the Ladyblog and the smack Ladybug would no doubt give him.

Rolling over, he tried to find a comfortable spot. He was burrowed under his comfort and sheets, but he still felt cold. Plagg snored on the pillow beside him and Adrien scowled at the black cat before glancing out his windowed wall.

Staring at the Paris night, he had finally drifted into an uneasy sleep.

That uneasy sleep followed him all through school. When he saw Marinette, he kept hearing her voice from last night asking him what he needed. What Chat Noir needed. He had laid out all the reasons Adrien was bad for her and she had asked about him. He wasn't sure what to think of that. She claimed to like Adrien, but she still cared for the leather cat. He flushed at his own actions. After he had confessed to her his confusion, he decided it was time to take his leave. He had kissed her forehead before wishing her sweet dreams. Once he was a block away from her mesmerizing scent, he could breathe and think a little clearer.

"You in, dude?"

"Huh?" With a shake of his head, Adrien looked over at his friend. Nino had a brow cocked at him and seemed to be expecting something. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

Nino shook his head with a chuckle. "You're so out of it, dude. I said do you want to go this afternoon? The student council is asking for help to set up the spring fling tonight. I'm DJ-ing and Alya is writing a report for the school blog. Marinette's student president so she kinda has to be there. You free?"

The Spring Fling had totally taken him by surprise. He'd seen the flyers posted, but he didn't pay them much attention and since he wasn't in the student council, he never had a reason to be involved. Of course, he also had his responsibilities as Adrien and Chat Noir to distract him. "Sure. I'm free this afternoon. Father was content with the photos from yesterday so we don't have to do anymore right away."

Alya squealed behind them. The two boys turned to her. "That means I get my Adrien Agreste interview!" She whooped and elbowed Marinette. "And Madame President over here can give me an interview for the school blog!"

Marinette blinked up from her sketch pad. "Why me?" She asked in confusion. "I wasn't at the meeting. All I'm doing is basically helping set up."

Nino hummed. "You did a lot, Marinette. Rose wanted a spring dance and you totally helped in scoring it. The whole class is super excited about it." He quirked his brows at Alya. "And it gives me a chance to show off my mad skills in front of my lovely lady."

Alya grinned. "Oh, hush you. We can't talk about that in front of the children." She smirked at Adrien. "Sunshine here is too pure to be sullied by you."

Adrien felt his face heat as Nino snorted. "Oh please. My man is such a closet perv. You weren't there when Ladybug was at his house. Home boy basically shoved me out of the way to-"

"Okay! Thanks, Nino!" Adrien shrieked as he glanced at Marinette. The poor designer was pale and refused to meet his glance. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, yeah, so where is the dance?"

The blogger grunted as she nodded towards Chloe. "Give you one guess, Agreste."

"Right. Of course," he nodded. "And the date?" He assumed it was soon since preparations were tonight. He mentally ran through his schedule for the rest of the week.

"This girl."

"Alya!" Marinette shrieked, much the chagrin of their teacher. After a swift apology, Marinette glared at her friend. "Adrien meant date of the dance not that!" The reporter shrugged. Timidly, Marinette made eye contact with him. "It's, um, Friday night. At seven. If you're free." She blanched. "I mean free to go. Not that I'm implying you have to go with me. That's silly. I'll be a bore. Student council and all. Not that it's boring or you wouldn't find it interesting. I-" She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "It'll be fun. You should come."

Nino snickered and Adrien side-eyed him. "I'll check with Nathalie. I don't think I have anything major." He dropped his voice. Adrien still should be under the impression that she had a boyfriend. "So, um, is your boyfriend not coming?"

Nino's snickers abruptly stopped and Alya watched Marinette like a hawk. The girl pursed her lips and tapped her fingers against her desk, her sapphire eyes downcast. "No," she answered slowly. "But, I think I might have over-reacted. We talked a little last night-"

"Wait," Adrien interrupted. "You talked to him? Last night?"

Alya and Nino glanced at each other and Nino shook his head at his girlfriend in warning. Alya pursed her lips, but kept silent as Marinette nodded. "Yeah. He stopped by really late. We didn't talk much about the…thing, but I learned some stuff about him. And, well…" Her cheeks went pink and she looked away from Adrien's hard stare.

Adrien turned back in his seat. She couldn't….Surely someone else…Her words from yesterday came back to him. She had to be with this guy. He was her best friend, but she didn't love him. Adrien's insides burned and squirmed. Could she have been talking about Chat Noir? But surely he would know if he was involved in some arranged relationship, right? Was Hawk Moth forcing her to pursue Chat Noir? Had he seen their interactions? But why now? Why not target Adrien since Ladybug had shown interest in him? Why target Marinette?

He needed to talk to Ladybug. If Marinette was being used, he needed to protect her. He refused to let Hawk Moth hurt her.

Adrien allowed the self-hatred to burn through him as he laid his head upon his desk. He had been so stupid. If he had just treated her indifferent, Hawk Moth wouldn't be targeting her. Please, he wanted to beg, target me. I'm Chat Noir. I'm the one you want.

"Adrien?" Marinette softly called. He couldn't look up at her.

"I, um…" Lifting his head, he waved for his teacher. "I'm not feeling well. May I be excused?"

XXX

Adrien had never ditched school. But he went straight for the boy's locker room. He locked the door behind him to keep everyone else out before coaxing Plagg out of his bag. The kwami floated lazily before him. "What now?" He whined.

"Hawk Moth is targeting her, Plagg!" His hands dug into his hair and it very quickly began to look like his Chat hair. "I have to let Ladybug know. We have to stop him before her hurts her! She clearly doesn't want or deserve this!"

Plagg blinked slowly at his Chosen. "I believe she said she was supposedly best friends with this guy. She's friendly, but I wouldn't say you're her BFF. You're not even at Boo status. Maybe Bae."

Adrien dropped his hands to his sides and gave him a blank stare.

"Come on, Boo, don't give me that look."

"Can you not be serious for one minute?" Adrien asked, exasperated, his arms flapping into the air and back to his sides. "Marinette could be in danger."

The kwami rolled his eyes. "I doubt it. She handled herself well with the artist. Honestly, I think you're overreacting. She's probably just got a crush on both sides of you and is freaking out."

The model backed against a locker row with a soft thud and slid down to the floor, a heavy sigh rattling his shoulders. "But, she said she had to be with this guy. With me. I don't even think she likes me. She can barely talk to me. I'm obviously not forcing her, so who is?" He scrubbed his face tiredly. "Marinette could have met with someone after I left, but what are the odds?" He voiced his earlier thoughts. "Father was impressed with her designs, but I'm sure he wouldn't force her to…to do something like that."

Plagg drifted to his Chosen's knee and perched upon Adrien's stretched out leg. "Relax, Kid. I really don't think it's anything serious. This girl has some serious anxiety attacks sometimes. She's probably just dramatizing or having an attack. She seemed fine today." Adrien still didn't seem convinced. "Your Princess is going to be OK. No one is going to hurt her," Plagg murmured. "Try talking to her as Adrien. See if she tells you more later at the meeting."

Adrien met his eyes and offered a small smile. "Thanks, Buddy." He scratched the cat's ear. He yelped when Plagg abruptly twisted his head and nipped his finger.

XXX

Le Grand Paris was a second home to Adrien. Nathalie had often taken him on playdates to visit Chloe when he was a child. Granted, it had more to do with their family's social standing and a few shady business deals than any real bonding experience on the children's parts. Regardless, much of the staff was friendly and familiar to Adrien and finding information about the dance was a snap. Many of the student council members had left school early to begin preparations and he found them in main ballroom. The walls were papered in a velvetlike paper that was a deep red crimson with burgundy spirals meant to look like flowers. The stark grey stone tiles contrasted strangely and Adrien wondered who had paired the two colors together.

Several boxes were piled by the doors he had just entered through and a quick glance showed them to be party and decoration supplies. Several council members were gathered around them and muttering about colors and themes. He recognized a few faces as being in his grade, but none from his class. He also didn't see Marinette.

He approached the closest boy. He was blonde and maybe a year under Adrien with a red sweater and light jeans. He thought his name might have been Gaige. The boy glanced up from the box he was riffling through and burrowed his brows together, dropping the package of silver foil stars in his hands. "Can I help you?"

Adrien nodded. "Yeah. I'm looking for Marinette. Is she here yet?"

One of the girls snorted and Adrien glanced at her. She too was blonde and wore her long wavy hair in a ponytail. It paired nicely with her sky blue dress. "Of course not. Marinette could never be on time if her life depended on it. She'll probably show up late after we've done all the work." Adrien frowned as she snooped around in her box. "And of course she skimped and bought all cheap stuff."

He opened his mouth to retort when a familiar voice called out from behind him. "Of course she did." The group turned to see Alya standing in the doorway; her arms crossed and her weight popping out her hip to the side. "The budget has to last all year. Marinette thought it would be best to not splurge on this dance, but save some for the end of term dance. Plus, there's other activities to prepare for on top of the requests she promised a few of the students. If you had read her budget report last semester, Noel, you would have seen how she had planned to use the money." She cocked a slender brow at the others. "Any more questions?" Alya didn't wait more than a second before continuing. "Now hang those paper stars. We all agreed to this theme, now get on it."

Noel's face was notably red as she grabbed a packet of stars and puttered to the opposite corner. Alya rolled her eyes before shooting Adrien a grin. "Yo, Agreste. Marinette and Nino are running over the playlist with Principal Damocles. They should be here in a few minutes." She approached the boxes and swiped out a few black packages. "I hope those muscles aren't just for looks, Sunshine." She tossed him the packages and he fumbled for them awkwardly. They were plastic table covers. "I need the long rectangle tables moved to the left wall." The blogger smirked. "I'm sure M wouldn't mind to see you all sweaty with your muscles bulging."

Adrien gaped at her like a fish; his pocket shook from Plagg's silent chortles.

XXX

With the help of three other boys, Adrien moved the tables from the center of the ballroom to the farthest wall. He was smoothing out a table cover when someone clapped him on the shoulder. His friend chuckled at the way he jumped. "Hey, dude. I see Alya has you under her thumb."

Adrien laughed. "She can be quite persuasive."

Nino's smirk grew to a grin. "Yeah, Marinette's been watching you flex for the past five minutes."

"What!?" He yelped; his voice embarrassingly loud and high as he sought her out. Sure enough, the girl stood beside Alya in the center of the room. Alya cackled raucously as Marinette attempted to hide her face behind the clipboard she clutched in her slender hands.

Snorting, Nino slapped Adrien's back again. "I can't believe you let her slip away." He nodded towards the council president. "That's probably why she was so upset yesterday. Alya told me what was said. Chloe's nonsense aside, she's probably trying to force herself to get over you and all this added attention to it is probably the last thing she wants."

"What?" Adrien sputtered again. His head whipped between Nino and the girls. "Get over me? What?"

Nino ruffled his hair. "Dude, you're so dense." Adrien scowled as he attempted to fix his hair. It would be bad if someone recognized him with messy hair. "She's had the biggest crush on you for the past year. And you've admitted she's cute." He shrugged. "Alya's grumpy that she's lost our bet, to be honest."

"Bet? Crush?" His pocket vibrated again and Adrien wished the floor would open and swallow him or an akuma would distract them or his Father would demand he show up to a photoshoot or-

"Hey, Nino!" The two guys glanced at the girls. Alya waved majestically as all the students turned to her. "Marinette wants to test the sound system!"

"Right on!" Nino shot his girlfriend a thumbs-up before scrambling off to his setup in the corner away from the food tables Adrien had just prepared. Adrien watched as Alya snatched the clipboard away from Marinette, who attempted to protest, and then pranced after her beau. The blonde smiled as he watched Marinette shake her head and mutter. Shyly, she met his gaze and waved.

Adrien lifted his hand to return it, but she turned and made for the doors. Afraid she would leave and he wouldn't get his chance to talk to her as Adrien, he ran after her. "Marinette!" He called a few meters away from her. The girl stiffened before facing him, a sweet smile plastered across her face.

He slowed to a jog and then stopped completely two feet away from her. "Marinette," he started. "I wanted to ask-"

The thrashing bass, electric rifts, and violent screams of Jagged's newest song blasted deafeningly in the circular room. The velvet walls did little to soften the metal cries of the music or the heavy thumping of the expensive speaker system the ballroom sported. Marinette yelped and covered her ears with a wince as Adrien mimicked her movements. The duo frantically looked at their friends in the corner. Alya thrashed her head at odd to the heavy metal as Nino steadily bobbed his head to the beat, his fingers dancing across this laptop keyboard. Marinette flew across the tiled room to them; her arms flailing as she desperately tried to stop them.

Adrien made to follow her, but Nino cut the music. The silence of the room left Adrien's ears ringing. He saw the three talking before the couple waved her off with a shooing motion. Marinette turned on her heel and marched back across the room to Adrien's side as the next song started up. It was a classical piece Adrien immediately identified. It was called In the Rain and it had been one of the first songs his mother had taught him on the piano. Though he had stopped playing after she had died, he could feel his fingers twitch at his sides to the phantom keys he knew so well. His foot tensed as if he was about to pump and his mind starting counting beats as the music swelled.

Props and decorations were immediately dropped as several council members paired off using any excuse to be near their crushes or dates. Marinette smiled wistfully. "I knew I shouldn't have let Nino play around with the others here." Adrien snapped out of his trained mindset and watched as Nino nodded to something Alya said beside him. His fingers flew across his keyboard as his partner seemed to read over the notes on Marinette's clipboard. Marinette groaned. "Now we'll never get finished! We've still got to-"

Adrien grasped her hand and pulled her along behind him as he moved further out to the improvised dance floor. Marinette stuttered as he paused and pulled her closer to him. His other hand placed her empty one upon his shoulder before resting upon her waist. He turned them in a small circle and, unbelievably, Marinette matched his steps despite her nervous expression. Her bluebell eyes were trained on his as she began to pull her lip into her mouth.

"Don't do that," he whispered.

She parted her lips and nodded up at him like an obedient child. He smiled sweetly down at her as they swayed. The familiar notes swelled and he could almost hear his mother humming. His steps slowed and Marinette nearly did trip this time, but his firm hold on her kept her upright. Would his mother be proud of him? Would she understand his motives behind protecting Marinette? Because he honestly didn't understand them himself. Father had always called her hopelessly romantic and ceaselessly emotional. Adrien knew he took more after his mother than father. Was that why he was chasing two girls?

He stopped and Marinette blinked up at him. "Adrien?" She murmured timidly.

No, he decided, not two girls. He was done with Ladybug. He had finally seen her for who she was that afternoon on the Tower. And despite all his declarations of loving the girl under the mask, he realized he couldn't completely love her. She was willing to die for a stranger. While it would normally be noble, he had seen the way she had treated Lila beforehand. Ladybug had been harsh and rude with the girl because she carried an obsessive crush on his civilian side. He hated to admit it, but Ladybug was shallow.

How had it taken him so long? She had never been interested in him while this sweet girl in his arms was too nervous to even hold a sentence with him. She had proven last night that she saw beneath his golden boy charm.

And whatever the reason or cause may be, he could never have her and he could not give her up. But he swore, no matter the cost, he would protect her.

Because he loved Marinette.

Adrien released her and stepped away as Nino faded the music out. "I'm sorry, Marinette." He turned and bolted from the room, leaving a confused girl in his wake.