Revelations Ch 14

Chapter 14 – A Positive Note

Adrien rubbed his neck nervously; he remembered mentioning Cat Noir to Marinette some time ago when he was helping her defeat the Evillustrator as Cat Noir, but he doesn't remember saying much about his alter ego to her. So with a raised eyebrow he answered calmly.

"Well I know he works with Ladybug to protect the town, why do you ask?" He asked, holding a hand out in question.

Marinette pressed her lips together firmly as her blue irises looked at everything else except Adrien's face, she knew that the question was going to arise, but she had to remain confident. She let the words of Tikki repeat themselves in her mind to calm down, Adrien could see the deep breaths emitting from Marinette's nose, why was she nervous? He wondered.

"Oh...well I was just wondering because you two kind of look alike...?" She answered, unsure of her answer. She could tell Tikki was face palming at the sound of her saying that.

His emerald eyes widened with surprise, he was definitely not expecting Marinette of all people to talk about his alter ego unless he asked. His cheeks turned a light magenta as he sucked in his lips slightly, looking down towards the ground for a quick moment before looking back up at Marinette who was seeking a response.

Adrien gave a nervous laugh to her statement. "Really...? Well that's a little uncanny isn't it?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous smile.

Marinette's face seemed more serious now for some reason, it confused Marinette that she was behaving like this towards him; it almost reminded him of how Ladybug would act around him as Cat Noir. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, and before he could ask why she was holding that expression in front of him she parted her lips to speak.

"I heard about your family issues...are you alright? I could hear stuff going on around your place on Saturday..." She began to say, hoping that she would be able to cover up her identity if she had just put it at risk.

The blonde teen widened his eyes again as he felt his heart skip a beat at the sudden shock of how unpredictable Marinette was suddenly getting, somehow she was changing, she rarely acted like this around him. He didn't really take all of their encounters into deep thought but he never remembered seeing Marinette acting this way towards him.

He smiled at her before sighing as the feelings of sadness and confusion overwhelmed his body, he turned his head away for a moment to hide away his conflicted feelings before he turned back to answer, giving a saddened expression along with it.

"Yeah..." He answered in a sad tone, before he lifted his head up more. "Wait, how did you know all that?" He asked, wondering in curiosity and slight suspicion.

Marinette bit her lower lip, she quickly thought of something to cover up her identity. "I'm friends with Ladybug...but don't tell Alya I told you that, please." She begged, not wanting Alya swarming all over her with millions of questions.

Adrien had no idea Marinette actually knew Ladybug as a friend; he had never seen the two together to even hang out or talk. Then, an idea sparked in his mind, before he thought of how that would work out then he threw that idea away. He was going to ask Marinette to talk to Ladybug for him. But that was a bad idea on many levels. He shook his head in denial of that idea working without anything else going wrong or making Marinette feel down again.

"Oh...okay." He replied in a softened tone, looking away slightly. "Well, yeah I guess but I was busy at the time." Adrien added, making Marinette's heart skip a beat.

She wanted to ask more, but feared that she was going too far with this. So she thanked him for the small talk and went off to her lesson as he did the same. When arriving to class Alya immediately assumed that Marinette was being tardy like she almost always is, but she didn't expect Adrien to be late for class also. This made her glare and raise an eyebrow at her best friend as she sat in her seat with a nervous smile.

"Okay, is there something you're not telling me or are you and Adrien arriving late coincidentally?" Alya asked in a whisper as the teacher had begun the lesson.

Marinette prepared her things for the class while giving a nervous look to Alya. She hadn't figured out what to say to her first because she was still deeply conflicted by what Adrien told her moments ago.

So as the lesson carried on, Marinette stared down at Adrien a few times in deep thought, and in that time Adrien thought about his father possibly being Hawkmoth. It was too deep to think about at school but unfortunately he couldn't help but think that way, he sighed every time he tried to take his mind off it and stay on task.

After class at the locker rooms, Marinette was placing her books in her bag when she felt a poking finger in the back of her shoulder. It made her clench her teeth in the sudden touch and tense up as she turned around to see Alya behind her glaring. Marinette sighed in relief before she greeted her best friend and returned to fixing up her books before closing her locker to still see her best friend with the look of suspicion on her face.

"What...?" Marinette asked, seeming clueless.

Alya folded her arms firmly as she tapped her finger, indicating she was waiting for Marinette to do or say something. Her lips curled into a tight frown as her eyebrows narrowed at Marinette, making Marinette feel extremely anxious and worried why her friend was acting this way.

"Tell me it's just a coincidence that's the second time you two have arrived in class basically after the other, and after the bell rang!" She exclaimed, pointing a finger at her.

Marinette twiddled her fingers as she rubbed her foot against the ground shyly. "It was just a coincidence..."

She didn't feel like telling Alya that she actually spoke to him before and that was why the two of them were late for class and arrived at almost the same time. The first time was purely coincidental as far as Marinette knows, but the second time was her fault. Marinette felt like telling Alya about her suspicions towards Adrien possibly being Cat Noir was a really bad idea because she remembers a while ago that Alya had her assumptions as well, but they weren't really serious.

Thinking back to when Alya put a costume over a photo of Adrien on her phone, the resemblance was uncanny. Yet there were a few differences between the two of them. In the photo Adrien's skin didn't look as dark as compared to Cat Noir's, and his hair was messy. Either Adrien had a kwami just like she did so that she couldn't tell the difference or Cat Noir was someone else entirely and she was just wasting her time on nothing.

"Are you sure...? You haven't been talking to him have you..?" Alya asked, stiff miffed about when Adrien said to Marinette's face that he liked someone else.

Marinette looked up with a blank expression before registering what Alya just asked her. Adrien liking her alter ego instead of her was one of the two major problems she was dealing with, and now that Alya brought it up it made the gears in her mind turn faster under intense pressure. But she kept it inside and hid it with a vague smile.

"No, don't worry about it. Just remember Alya, sometimes over thinking your suspicions could be a bad thing." She lectured, before realising she was giving herself a lecture also.

She bit her lip in sudden realisation; she had given not just Alya advice but herself some advice. She started to think that maybe she was overcomplicating her suspicions and worries over Adrien being Cat Noir; she was only basing her suspicions off her near victory fight with Hawkmoth and a woman who turned out to be Adrien's own mother. Remembering back to that day she remembered the woman saying his name before she turned to not see anyone around them except for an anxious cat standing wide eyed. Perhaps he was worried that because the woman said Adrien's name he worried that Adrien might come into the scene and get hurt. She knew from Chat that he knew Adrien as a friend.

So Marinette decided to take the conflicted thoughts and denial away and come to a conclusion that she was only over thinking it. For the remainder of the school day she was left with positive thoughts while Adrien was still feeling conflicted about his family, and then had begun to think about Marinette's sudden brought up subject about his alter ego from that morning.

During break he looked at her in slight suspicion, but then took into account that she was friends with Ladybug so that's how she must have known. He sincerely hoped she didn't tell Marinette everything about him, but he knew for sure that Ladybug wouldn't tell anyone her secret identity, not even hers.

While Adrien talked to Nino to get his mind off his conflicted thoughts, Alya was eyeing Adrien and Nino suspiciously, making Marinette distracted from sketching out some more design ideas. Marinette placed her drawing book and pencil down to look at her friend in concern and confusion, crossing her legs together on the bench.

"You know, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to ask who he really likes?" Alya suggested, smirking a little as she moved her eyes to Marinette.

However, Marinette already knew very clearly who Adrien liked, and Marinette couldn't find a way to work it all out so everything would be fine between the two. She didn't want to tell Alya who he really liked, and she didn't want to lie either. Marinette actually wondered why Alya was getting so caught up in Marinette's love life.

"What? No, it's fine...he doesn't want to tell anyone so that's okay!" Marinette exclaimed, worried that Alya was going to interrogate him.

Alya chuckled with her fingers lightly touching her chest. "I'm just kidding Marinette, but it would be nice to know who she is. But I can respect that, it's just really harsh of him to say that to your face." She admitted.

Marinette shook her head before scratching the back of her head nervously. "Well...not really, I mean he apologised to me about it and he understands that I like him..." She explained, looking away with a light pink blush against her cheeks.

Her best friend's movements turned quick and intense right after Marinette spoke those words. "Are you serious!?" She exclaimed, pulling Marinette in closer in shock. "When did he tell you?" Alya asked, before remembering back to last week when Adrien talked to Marinette, she gasped at the thought. "Was that the time when you talked with Adrien alone?"

The navy haired teen nodded with a small smile, glad to see that Alya figured things out without having her to explain every single detail to her so she would understand. She still felt upset about Adrien not liking her that way in spite of the fact that he knew she liked him, but since it was Ladybug that he had feelings for it was a whole different situation, and it was too difficult for her to handle. She tried to not think about it too much; every time she did it would stress her out a lot.

Alya parted her lips as she slowly nodded, realising she already knew the answer. "Oh...well that makes sense then. But I still can't believe that even though he knows about your feelings he still likes-wait." Alya stopped, realising that Adrien knew of Marinette's feelings without anyone even telling him. "How did he know?"

Marinette shrugged, remembering she didn't get an actual reason from him besides him saying that he's known for a while. It shocked her from the very beginning and it still did, she wondered how he knew, were her hints that obvious? She knew that Alya could tell because she already knew of Marinette's feelings. This made her mind think to Adrien liking Ladybug. That made no sense either; she knew very well that she shared little to no moments with Adrien as Ladybug, the only time was to protect him from the mime and nothing else.

At first she thought it was just a fan crush but she could see in his emerald eyes that it looked so much more like that, it was almost the same adoring look Chat would give her from time to time. She couldn't help but wonder why Adrien would be in love with her alter ego when they barely spent any time together while Marinette was Ladybug, it was a confusing situation that she didn't want to delve deeper into, and so she left it at that.

So the rest of the school day went as it should have been, Marinette had her moments with Alya while Adrien had his moments with Nino, and then came the time to go home for the day.

Marinette and Alya left before most of the students as Alya wanted to leave early to edit another Ladybug video for her blog while Marinette remembered that she had to help her parents out at home with the bakery. Adrien gave a cute smile at the rushed Marinette, he found her cute when she was always quickly moving, either with her words or just moving around quickly to get to places. It kind of reminded him of Ladybug, but instead it was a more cute and clumsy girl moving around.

"I'll see you later Marinette, be sure to check out my video when I upload it. I'll send you a text." Alya called out as she walked quickly away from Marinette towards her home with a wave in goodbye.

With a small chuckle, Marinette waved in reply before she started to head home herself. And after a good hour and a half of helping her parents around in the bakery, she went upstairs to finish her homework before Tikki suggested something for them to do which they hadn't done very much of.

"You know, it's not very often we go on a patrol of Paris. How about we take in the sights so you can get more ideas while also seeing if there are villains to fight?" She suggested, floating above Marinette's tablet with her homework on it.

Marinette grew worried ever since the near victory fight she had with Hawkmoth two days ago, she worried that Hawkmoth's plans were going to become worse from here due to that fight. It made her even more worried when he disappeared from their sight and was nowhere to be found afterwards. However despite her worries she agreed to have a little patrol. She wanted to get more ideas for her designs anyway so she found patrolling to be a relaxing experience for her, as she was able to take in the sights and the environment around her as she leapt from roof to roof looking over most of Paris.

So with a click flash of bright light, Ladybug hopped off her roof and swung from building to building, scanning every area she came across and taking in the sights to get more ideas for designs. She smiled every time she saw a pretty sight, it almost made her sigh as she stood on the higher buildings to feel the cool breeze against her skin and swiftly breezing through her navy hair. Ladybug closed her eyes in embrace before she felt satisfied and then jumped onto another building nearby.

She decided to check around Adrien's house in case Hawkmoth were to be spotted. It had been quiet ever since her fight with Hawkmoth and she was riddled with anxiety of when Hawkmoth's next attack would be. So she scanned the area, knowing not to go inside as she didn't want to trespass on her crush's property and she knew of his father who could be really strict about certain things.

There was nothing unusual to be seen, and then she moved to the park where she hid behind a tree so she wouldn't draw attention from fans, as this was only a patrol and getting ideas for new clothing designs. That was until she heard the sounds of a photographer telling a certain blonde teen to pose in certain ways and the sound of a photo being taken was heard.

A crimson blush crept across Ladybug's cheeks as she turned her head slightly to see Adrien off in the distance in the middle of a photo shoot. Her heart immediately began to pound out of her chest as she realised that she was right there as Ladybug near Adrien who she knew liked her as Ladybug. It made her thoughts run wild with many exciting ideas that she could tell Tikki was trying to bury in the back of her mind.

She could hear Tikki on the inside telling her to stay away as this was not the right way to go about being with Adrien, but Ladybug couldn't help herself. So when the photographers took a break, she looked over and saw Adrien heading over to his bags. She wondered how she could get to talk to him as Ladybug without drawing any outside attention away from what she really wanted to do.

But then, while Ladybug was still looking at him from behind the tree, Adrien turned his head to see someone quickly hide away from him behind the trees. He raised an eyebrow before letting his curiosity take him over there. It wasn't long before his eyes immediately saw who was behind that tree and he felt his heart beat incredibly fast as he felt his cheeks heat up and his eyes widen in sudden surprise.

And there they were, two people who deeply loved each other, but yet neither of them knew what to say. Last time they had seen each other like this was the exact same expressions and sudden stare into each other's eyes. Ladybug was extremely glad she wasn't in the middle of battle or her earrings were signalling her to leave, it was a moment that almost had no time limit whatsoever. But she knew that Adrien would have to go back to his photo shoot in a short while.

Then, Ladybug was caught off guard as Adrien spoke first. Both of them were blushing a deep crimson at each other as their muscles tensed up.

"Um...hi Ladybug..." He greeted, stuttering.

"H-hi..." Ladybug replied in the same tone of nervousness.

Suddenly, Adrien felt an overwhelming urge to hold her in his arms right then and there, but he felt like he was being held back by something but he couldn't tell. But before he knew it, he was touching Ladybug's hand, and this was when the both of them stiffened and looked at each other, staring deep into each other's eyes.

"I...I really like you..." Adrien admitted, not looking away, but could feel his nervousness get to him.

Ladybug intertwined her fingers with his; showing mutual affection to him, Adrien was caught off guard when he felt Ladybug's fingers tighten over his. Was this the moment he had been waiting for? It was too good to be true.