True Love Kiss

12 - Half-Reveal

***

Adrien had a problem. In one moment, his life had become very complicated. And then he acted like a fool and complicated his life even more.

"Try to explain it to me again, because I don't understand you completely, kid." Plagg said, eating his favourite camembert as a part of therapy.

Adrien unknowingly was giving him more pieces of stinking cheese, and his kwami gladly used the boy's distraction trying to repay with life advice.

"Oh, OK... So here it is... But focus, Plagg! I really need your help!"

"OK, OK... Tell me! But don't make a mess. Try to tell me everything in order, can you?"

"I'm totally lost. What are the chances that someone wrote a Valentine card to me with the same handwriting that Marinette signed the poster today?"

"Maybe it was someone who went to the same calligraphy classes?" Plagg suggested.

"You were supposed to help." Adrien said wryly.

"And you were supposed to tell everything in order." Kwami answered back. "You talk in reverse order."

"I'm trying to solve the riddle. I don't have to tell you what I did, because you were there."

"When you escaped from Marinette in a disorderly retreat?" Plagg grinned.

"Er... Yeah..." Adrien blushed when he remembered that moment.

It looked terrible, indeed. And when he began to think about it after returning home, his behaviour seemed to him even worse: first he'd been speechless, then he realised the horrible truth that it had been Marinette not Ladybug who probably sent him that Valentine card. The next moment he realised that if he showed embarrassment, Marinette would connect the dots – especially that he was staring, shocked, at her beautiful calligraphy – and it would become really awkward. And then he was just a step away from panicking. Because he knew he had to regain his composure, and he couldn't do it.

So, he did the worst possible thing. He escaped. He ran away, muttering a stupid apology at the door, that he just remembered about the very important photo shoot and had to go. What a crap!

Adrien ruffled his hair, belatedly realising that his fingers were stained with camembert. He winced. As if he didn't have enough problems! Now he'd be stinking with blue cheese!

"You messed it up." Plagg summed up, as if he read in his mind.

"What should I do now?"

"Honestly, kid, I don't know what to tell you."

"Great..." Adrien grumbled.

"Seriously. I have no idea how to fix it."

"When I close my eyes, I can see the astonishment in her eyes." Adrien moaned and combed his hair with his hand again, packing more and more camembert in it.

"You won't need a hair gel in a moment." Plagg said and added: "Maybe let's put away cheese."

Adrien looked at his kwami stupefied. Had Plagg just said...?

"Yeah, I don't believe I said that either." Kwami confirmed.

"What did she think about me?! What if she guessed that I had recognised her handwriting? If she was the one who'd sent this Valentine, she would now think that I ran away, because I realised that I had received a valentine card with a love poem from her. And she'll think I don't want her. And she will end our friendship..."

"Breathe, Adrien." Plagg interjected.

"I wouldn't want to lose her." Adrien suddenly confessed, surprising himself with this confession.

"I remind you that you are in a happy relationship with Ladybug." Plagg muttered and reached for the cheese again.

"Ladybug!" Adrien exclaimed and looked in astonishment at his kwami.

"What?"

"Do you think...? Do you think Marinette is... Ladybug?"

Plagg almost got choked with camembert.

"How... did this... come to your mind?" he asked with difficulty.

"Well, logically, Plagg." Adrien replied excited. "First, Ladybug broke the spell with a kiss. When we met on the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral, she recited the text from our morning lesson! So, she'd had to sit in the same classroom! She told me that she'd sent a valentine card and didn't sign it. The recipient was supposed to be a popular boy. So, it could be me, right? The valentine was written with Marinette's handwriting and it's the answer to my poem. She could find it in the trash can, where I'd thrown it out after the French Literature lesson."

"Well, your logic has a few shortcuts." Plagg murmured wryly.

"On the contrary!" Adrien replied. "Everything fits perfectly together!"

"So, what are you going to do about it? If, I repeat 'if!' Marinette is Ladybug, you just made a giant fool of yourself in front of your beloved one."

"I'm so happy I can always count on you, Plagg!" Adrien muttered, combing his hair with the camembert-stained hand once more. Again, he realised that he was packing another portion of smelly cheese in his hair and sighed irritated. "I'm going to wash this stench away!"

Plagg just rolled his eyes and continued to enjoy the favourite delicacy. But when the bathroom door closed behind Adrien, he looked there anxiously. Master Fu wouldn't be happy...