The Ace-ing on the Cake : A Mlb Fanfic

Chapter 3 : Flowers

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Plagg was quiet for a long time. Too long. Adrien glanced up as he finished making his bed – most people assumed that the servants did that, but Adrien had always taken care of cleaning his own room. It was something he'd doubled down on after getting a miraculous: he couldn't risk having Plagg be discovered by a well-meaning maid. Bad enough Nathalie sometimes gave Adrien a weird look when she noticed a stash of Camembert.

"Plagg?" Adrien said.

"You know what, you're right," Plagg said, seemingly coming to a decision. "You bought the flowers and you should give them to her."

Adrien narrowed his eyes. "You've been trying to talk me out of this for the past hour. What's changed?"

"Nothing," Plagg said in a way that meant something definitely had. "Shouldn't you get going?"

Much as he wanted to press for details, Adrien realized that his kwami was right. "Plagg, claws out!"

Once transformed, he carefully picked up the bouquet of flowers he had purchased for Marinette last night on his way home. Usually his luck was purely of the not-so-good variety, but Ladybug must have been looking out for him as he'd passed over a florist that was still open. The delighted woman had been very helpful indeed, putting together a colorful bouquet of chrysanthemums and hydrangeas. She'd reassured him that both flowers meant gratitude and thanks.

He tucked the bouquet under his arm and jumped out the window, taking a shortcut across the roofs towards the bakery. It was early yet, just after ten, so he knew that chances were high that Marinette would still be at home. She might even still be in bed since, according to Alya, Marinette hated getting up early and loved to sleep in. She and Ladybug had that in common.

Chat alighted on the balcony outside Marinette's room and crouched down. There was a curtain drawn over the window, so he knocked and waited. No answer. He knocked a second time, just in case Marinette was there and hadn't heard him, but still nothing. He looked down at the bouquet and decided to leave it on her chair. She wouldn't know it was from him since he hadn't included a card, but Marinette was smart enough to realize how few people had access to her balcony.

But no sooner had he set the flowers down on the chair than the curtain rustled and Marinette's face appeared. Her eyes bugged out in surprise when she saw him; Chat smiled weakly and waved, realizing that Plagg had probably been right. He was wondering if it would be better if he just left when the frame rattled, and then the window popped open and Marinette stuck her head out.

"Chat Noir? What are you doing here?" she asked in astonishment.

"I just... I wanted to say thank you for last night," Chat said.

"Last night? I didn't do anything," Marinette said, scrunching her nose up the way she always did when she was trying to figure something out. Chat couldn't help smiling.

"Sure you did. You listened to this silly cat when no one else was around. That means a lot to me," he admitted, feeling a little awkward. "So I got you these." He picked up the bouquet again and held it out.

"Oh..." Marinette's lips parted with a breathy sound of shock, but she said nothing else as she climbed out onto the balcony to join him. She was wearing sneakers, jeans, a pink t-shirt, and a pink apron that had a few smears of chocolate on it, and he belatedly realized she must have been helping her parents in the bakery.

She took the bouquet and slowly opened the paper. Chat watched her face closely as she took in the blue and pink flowers – blue for her eyes, and pink because he knew it was her favorite color. Something in her expression seemed to soften, and, when she looked up at him again, it was with a gentle smile that brightened her tired eyes and made Chat's heart stutter a little too hard.

"Thank you, Chat Noir," she said. "They're beautiful. But you really didn't have to get me anything. I was happy to be a friend when you needed one."

"I appreciate that," Chat told her, meaning it more than she could ever know. He had precious few friends, and even fewer that he could've talked to the way he had to Marinette last night. Nino was completely amazing, but Chat just didn't think he would understand.

It helped that he knew Marinette would never tell another soul, even though her best friend ran the Ladyblog and would go bonkers for a scoop like that. As both Adrien and Chat Noir, he had to be so careful about who he shared things with – he'd learned that the hard way. For a moment he wished he could detransform and repeat everything he'd said last night, but this time be able to say it as Adrien.

That wouldn't work, though. For one thing, he couldn't tell anyone who he was. For another, Marinette could get weirdly tense around Adrien sometimes. He had yet to fully work out why. He just knew that he couldn't bear the thought of her being weird when he was sharing something so private.

His mission complete, and assuming Marinette was busy, he turned to go. He was startled when a small but strong hand gripped his wrist, stopping him before he clear the railing. Chat turned, startled, and saw Marinette had closed the distance between them in a blink. She didn't let go, either. Her expression was pure determination, like she was going to say what she wanted to say no matter what.

"You know," Marinette said. "You could talk to Ladybug, I bet. She's your friend."

Chat blinked at her, then shook his head. "No, I couldn't."

"Yes, you could! She wouldn't think less of you!" Marinette argued. "And... and you said it yourself, right? She doesn't like you that way, so it doesn't matter..." She trailed off when his ears and tail drooped and bit her lip.

"It's true that my lady doesn't love me back," Chat agreed, forcing a smile. "But I still couldn't tell her this. She doesn't want to know any private details about me. We don't talk about anything important." It was true, but he also didn't think he could admit this to Ladybug on the off-chance that someday she decided to reciprocate his feelings. If that ever happened, he would figure out what to do about the sex thing then.

Marinette looked slightly perturbed. "You talk like you think you're not important," she said, as though baffled, and Chat cocked his head.

"Well, that's because I'm not," he said. "Ladybug has way more important things to think about. From the way she talks, she has great friends and good parents and a really busy schedule. She barely has time for akuma attacks sometimes! She gets really mad when Hawkmoth sends an akuma when she's trying to do something else..." He smiled genuinely this time.

"But she's your friend too," Marinette persisted. "She would listen. She would help you to understand that it's okay, believe me."

"Maybe," Chat said politely, not wanting to argue anymore, but also knowing there was no way in hell he was bringing this up to Ladybug.

Marinette pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Come back here tonight."

"What?" Chat said, startled.

"I have to thank you for the flowers," Marinette said. "They're way nicer than what I did for you. So come back after dark. I'll be waiting."

"Marinette –"

"You better not keep me waiting long!" she interrupted, walking back to her room. She climbed back through the window and slammed it shut. Moments later, the curtain was sharply drawn across.

Chat stared at the window, dumbfounded. He was pretty sure he had inadvertently offended Marinette, though he had no idea how. And he was almost afraid to show up tonight... but he was no longer sure he had a choice in the matter.