Beyond the Miraculous

Chapter 11

----- Adrien's Perspective -----

I suddenly loved hanging out at Marinette's place. It could have been because of the sweet pastry scent, or the nice vibe her room gave me, but the most likely reason was Marinette herself. For a long time, I felt as if my double identity was something to be careful about, but now I was extremely happy I'd had it. This way I could still be friends with Marinette and have her be completely honest with how she felt about me. That sounded manipulative of me, but I had only innocent intentions. Today though, today was so filled with information, among other things. For the past few days, I had been going over to Marinette's house a lot more often, because I had lost her as a friend in school. With my secret identity, Cat Noir, I could still spend time with her, which made me happy. I realized that in school, my days had become dull with Marinette not around. She seemed to be the center of our group of Nino, Alya, me, and her of course. Now that she was avoiding me, so did Alya. Nino was the only friend I could count on, disregarding Chloe. Today when I headed over to her house I paused before leaping on top of her roof, as I didn't want to disturb her. She was definitely crying. I could see the tears streaming down her face from the angle I was perched on. I could also see her talking to something I couldn't place my mind on. She was talking to herself I assumed. From the building next to her bakery, I leaped and landed on top of one of the fence posts. The next conversation led to us talking about Adrien (aka me), since she was obviously crying about it. Turns out I did confuse the poor girl when I talked to her after school. I felt so bad about it, but the only possible way I could try and make her feel better was through Cat Noir, seeing as I most likely couldn't talk to her during school anymore.

Eventually she invited me into her room to which I accepted, for some reason eager to spend time with Marinette. There was an attraction I couldn't set my finger on whenever we hung out. When I was Cat Noir, she was so much more confident, and her personality almost reminded me of Ladybug. I shook my head, I shouldn't have been comparing Marinette to Ladybug. Marinette was a friend. I tried to drill that into my head a few days earlier, but now I seemed to have been needing to say that to myself increasingly more often since then. There wasn't much to do in Marinette's room, and since she was busy I didn't want to disturb her. I then proceeded to jump on her bed like the cat I was, trying to entertain myself. Clearly she allowed me to so I continued until it got to be a bore. But then I noticed something strange on her wall. Actually, it was several strange things, and in fact they were all over the place. How could I have not noticed this from my past visits? I questioned myself. All over her bedroom were papers, with pictures of me. Pictures of me as Adrien modelling. And what was stranger, most of them had hearts drawn onto them. Wow, I didn't know she fell this deep in love with me. I was flattered, yet fascinated. Also I noticed whenever I let my 'Adrien side' show through, she was a lot more comfortable with me. Could Marinette like me? At first thought it felt weird to think about, but when I drifted deeper into thought however, it made perfect sense. The few times I caught Marinette blushing, the way she laughed around me, how she let me in her room. But Marinette cut off my train of thought before I could finish reasoning.

"Chaton!! No!" I heard her yell. I sheepishly grinned. She snatched all the pictures of me off the wall, and we both joked around until we heard stomping noises in the distance. I went to go check, and, of course, it was an akuma. These akumas always seemed to interrupt important moments. I told Marinette to stay put while I fought the akumatized villain, and said goodbye.

This time around, I reasoned that if I had a sneak attack from behind the giant, I would have the advantage. There was no sign of Ladybug, so I hoped she would get my plan and come quickly. Just as I took out my baton, I saw Ladybug, leaping with her yoyo, so graceful that it almost seemed peaceful. It was almost beautiful. I shook my head, I couldn't be into Ladybug anymore, I felt more compelled towards...Marinette? My mind said I should have focused, but my heart said otherwise. But, wait a minute, didn't I just come from that direction? I looked back at her house, and at her again. My eyes widened in realization. Her path made sense, she must have come from Marinette's house, which could only mean one thing. I gasped at the sudden idea but decided to not jump to conclusions. So I naturally followed Ladybug, ditching my former plan. My plan had now changed. I lept to Ladybug, who was talking to herself.

"Woah this one's big," she stated to herself, watching the giant.

"Yeah, we're going to have trouble with this one," I said, accidentally scaring her.

When she turned around however, her facial expression seemed even more recognizable. It was Marinette. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug. Our whole love conflict I realized, was us literally friendzoning each other because we liked each other in different forms. But wow. Now that I looked at her more deeply, I realized just how beautiful and deep her sky blue eyes actually were. But either way, it explained why I liked Ladybug - and Marinette at the same time. No wonder it was so hard. I was absolutely shocked, but also delighted. It was kind of idiotic not to notice that Marinette was Ladybug. I mean, how could I have missed it, with the uncanny differences. Now I hoped she wouldn't notice mine. I decided not to reveal my identity, or that I knew her identity, until later times at least. I felt a smirky expression form on my face as a new thought popped into my mind.

Ladybug finally noticed that I had been staring at her for a few moments too long. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I don't even remember what I had said exactly, because my mind was screaming, Marinette was Ladybug, and Ladybug was Marinette! In a constant loop, like a broken record player. The idea that popped into mine was a foolish one, I knew. But instead of me being able to replace it with another, it stayed there, As if it was already anchored into my mind.

I looked up and down her figure, and I guess she noticed, because she suddenly said, "I saw that, you just checked me out." But instead of her usual annoyed expression, this time she gave me a smirk. Was she....blushing? I couldn't fully tell because of her mask. Before I knew what I was doing, I leaned in, attempting to fulfill that idea from before; to kiss her. Her familiar pigtails blew softly in the breeze. My stomach filled with butterflies (or should I say MOTHS, ya know, cause HawkMOTH). For a few moments she leaned in as well, and finally our lips almost made contact when -

Ladybug flung herself backwards, and fell on to the rough roof surface. And it was definitely on purpose. She tried to explain but when she clearly couldn't she zipped off to supposedly defeat the akuma. I stood there, alone on top of the gray cement.

A/N: So we're nearing the end of this story! I think there will maybe be about 3 (give or take) more chapters??

Thanks for reading! (Leave a vote if you are enjoying the story so far!)