Chapter 6 - Coral
It wasn't that Marinette had never been on a date before. Back when she was with Luka, she went on dates with him, and even if it was purely platonic (well, platonic to her) her late-night adventures with Chat Noir could be seen as a romantic date between two superheroes after a long day.
But, even as she reminded herself all of this, Marinette was freaking out.
Really, he had no business being that cute at the moment. Stopping slowly, so he didn't startle her and gently putting her on her feet. Chat smiled down at her with a genuine smile and of course, Marinette was nervous again.
"You thank—I mean!" she cursed, sucking in a breath before trying again. "Thank you, Chat."
"Adrien." he corrected, tilting his head lazily.
"Adrien." Marinette repeated, letting the fact sink in as she turned around and gazed across the rooftop.
"Hey," she said slowly, her eyes widening in surprise. "This is where you made that candle picnic for Ladybug."
There wasn't any picnic this time; Marinette felt a strange disappointment in her chest, which she quickly pushed away. Of course, he wouldn't put all that time into their date. He loved Ladybug and not Marinette.
"You're not very good at this 'pretending I'm Adrien' thing, are you?" Chat Noir took a step closer to her, his breath hot on her skin. Marinette felt the hairs on her neck rise up. She doubted that he had done it by accident. God, he was good at being romantic.
Still, she managed a normal-sounding chuckle at the comment. "Terrible at it."
"No sweat, Princess," Chat said idly, resting his hands on the back of his head and walking forward to look out onto the view. He looked nice there, completing the picture he had painted for their practice date.
Right.
Just a practice date.
And the feeling was back again. Ignoring it for the second time, she pulled herself together and stepped beside Chat.
"So... Adrien." she started in uncertainty, staring at the streets below them.
He laughed faintly, eyes trained on the cars moving through the roads. "It's awkward, right?"
She smiled, nodding her head in agreement. "Definitely."
"What about this?" Chat turned his head to look at her, and stepped backwards away from the edge. Marinette did the same. "You," he said, pointing at her with a warm grin on his face, "Go ahead and tell me everything you love about Adrien."
"Oooh," she cringed, sitting down on the stone rooftop, "This is going to be so embarrassing."
"It's good to get things off your chest." he pointed out, which made Marinette tilt her head in consideration.
"Well..." Marinette watched as Chat made way to sit down next to her, shoulders touching comfortably. "He's kind and he cares about his friends even when they let him down. He's smart, sweet, and considerate. He's absolutely adorable and naive but in a cute way..."
The words rolled off her tongue in an instant. A sound so wonderful and full of adoration. Marinette felt tingles in her body as she recounted everything she loved about the boy. Every moment she was reminded how much she cared about him and how she could never love anyone like she loved him.
"And he's very handsome too," she finished with a giggle, "Super cute. His eyes are so pretty and green and his smile," her shoulders slumped as she smiled lovingly, "His smile is gorgeous. Just like yours."
She stopped, eyes widening in shock as she registered what she had just said. Turning her head, Marinette cringed expecting a cocky smirk from the superhero, but instead, he found him with a face so red it could've rivaled one of a tomato.
She squinted, "Chat are you... blushing?"
"Nope." he answered a little too quickly to be genuine. Marinette grinned.
"Stop!" Chat whined, noticing the look on her face. "Look, you were just confessing your love to Adrien, he would've been blushing. I'm just in character."
"I thought we weren't pretending." She said, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "You must be a good actor."
"I- " he looked away. "Adrien's a good actor too." Now that took her by surprise. She didn't know Adrien acted. Sure, he did lots of commercials, but really he just had to act... happy.
"Oh shit."
"Language." Chat said instinctively.
"Not the time, Chat."
"Right." he glanced around, trying not to meet her eyes. He probably messed up. That was a lot of information and on the first date? She would get uncomfortable and want to leave and he really didn't blame her for that.
"He deserves the world." Marinette blurted after a moment.
Chat looked at her in curiosity again. "What?"
"Adrien." she replied simply. "He deserves the world and... I'm not enough for that. I can't give him that." Marinette sighed miserably and buried her head in between her knees, hugging them tightly and gazing out on the night sky.
"Sure you can." Chat said, shuffling closer to her. "You're Marinette."
She smiled dryly. "You say that like I can fix everything."
He was silent for a second. "Obviously, you can't fix everything. No one can do that. But, he likes you so much. It's a little concerning, honestly- " Marinette laughed at that, and he smiled reassuringly at the small act of validation. "You should hear all the things he says about you."
Chat stood up dramatically, put a hand on his face, and looked away with a love-struck expression. "Marinette's so talented! Marinette's so kind, she's way out of my league! Marinette's so beautiful, she could be a goddess!"
"A goddess?" she asked, a blush forming on her cheeks as she grinned.
"A goddess." he confirmed, smiling and crouching down. "So, he likes you and you like him. Perfect."
"Kind of."
"Oh?" he tilted his head to the side. "Do we have a contender for the fair maiden's heart?"
Marinette laughed. "No, but the fair maiden you speak of is terrible at articulating her thoughts."
"Oh come on," he sat down beside her with a smile on his face. "You were doing so good before. Continue."
She looked at him for a moment before thinking again.
"He's amazing." she said after a second of silence. "He's always there for me, and he's so kind even with his stupid dad..." she sighed. "I love him so much. So, so much, Chat. It's insane."
"Really?"
"Really."
Chat let out a contented breath from his nose and laid his head on her shoulder. Marinette's eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to say something but he got there first.
"He'd like to hear that. Especially from a girl like you."
Her eyes softened, and she sighed, "Thank you, Chat Noir."
"You're welcome."
~
Adrien would've given her a picnic if he had the time. It was his go-to romantic date after all. But of course, his (terrible) luck caught up to him and that idea was thrown out the window the instant his father had called him for a 'last-minute photoshoot' right before he walked out the door to go to the class picnic Marinette had incited him to.
He would've liked to believe that it was really a last-minute decision, but he knew the company well enough that when he, a well-liked famous supermodel, was booked for a shoot, it wasn't as easy as calling thirty minutes beforehand.
No, Adrien knew his father had done it on purpose.
His original plan was to set up the date right after the picnic ended so that he'd have all the time in the world for him to make sure his and Marinette's first (he didn't like to think of the last time he tried to go on a date with her) was perfect, just like her.
Of course, this wasn't what had happened whatsoever. There were no treats, no blanket and definitely no flowers. But, he thought idly as Marinette's hand drifted to his head to scratch behind his ears, this was as perfect as he would've wanted.
-
Alya was waiting for her when Chat Noir dropped her off at her balcony, gently kissed her hand and place a coral coloured rose in the pocket of her shirt, which meant that she had had a clear view of a very flustered and red Marinette stuttering out a 'you're welcome' when he thanked her for the date before winking and bounding off to a nearby building.
She also saw Marinette reaching over to her side to rub her hand at the exact spot his lips had touched her.
"Oh my god!" Alya exclaimed, pushing the trapdoor she was peeking out from open completely and jumping onto the platform.
Marinette twirled around, letting her hand go quickly as she set her (very wide) eyes upon her friend.
"You," Alya said, rushing forward and placing her hands on her shoulders, "Look very in love tonight Miss. Chat's Just A Friend."
"Alya that's not what - You've got it all wrong!" Marinette sighed in exasperation though her face was still bright red. "I was just... a little surprised!"
"Please," she smiled, "You looked like he had just pulled the sun out of his ass to light up the sky."
"Alya," Marinette said ignoring the metaphor her friend had decided to use, "Chat's pretending to be Adrien so that I could confess my love to Adrien! He doesn't love Marinette me."
"Like Marinette and Ladybug aren't the same people."
"Well, he doesn't know that now does he?" Marinette responded, crossing her arms. "Now let's go downstairs and not talk about whether I have feelings with the guy or not."
Alya laughed and went along with her friend's wishes but Marinette didn't fail to catch her mouthing the three words she didn't want to hear that night.
'They're in love.'
She didn't like how good that made her feel.
~
Chat Noir hasn't seen Ladybug blush that red in his life. He wasn't quite sure if he should be proud of himself or if he should ask if she was okay. His brain was working overtime trying to figure out this predicament that he's in.
Ladybug peeked through her fingers, daring to make eye contact with her partner, but when she caught a glimpse of his green cat-like eyes, she decided that perhaps she should continue this when she wasn't replaying the events of the night before.
"Uh," Chat started, earning a small 'eep!' from the girl beside him. "Sorry if I said too much."
"No!" she defended, crossing her arms with a nervous expression playing on her face. "I am absolutely invested in your story. I am perfectly fine!"
"Ah," he scratches the back of his head. "Well, I kissed her hand when I brought her home. Purely platonic, because, you know, we're friends and all and she's certainly not you, you get what I'm saying, right?
It's awkward how fast he's begun to say his sentences. Like if he didn't get it out fast enough he'd lose the confidence and end mid-sentence. He was flustered, and it was humiliating. Adrien had made a perfectly crafted character that he enacted when he transformed and being flustered, was not in it!
But Ladybug did not get the memo. Her impossibly dark hair moving around in the soft breeze, her blue eyes sparkling under the moonlight and her lips with a faint covering of lip gloss shone like her personality that he adored so much.
He noticed this, of course, knowing that this girl was his friend and that she loved him had somehow broken through his meticulously created personality and overwhelmed his heart that he had no choice but to blush, or to get nervous, having the tips of his fingers get tingly when he pours his love to the world to see. He was scared now. Because loving Ladybug was easy. Her loving him just as much as he did terrified him.
"She was probably very flattered." She said quietly, knocking him out of his thoughts. "Getting a kiss from a celebrity is a pretty nice feeling."
"And yet you continue to avail mine," he responded, his quick grin lighting up his face once again.
She laughed and rolled her eyes. "In your dreams Chaton."
"Ah!" he's not phased as he pretends to have been pierced by an arrow as he leans back, "You wound me Bug!"
Ladybug snorts before pushing his shoulder teasingly.
My Lady, Chat thinks to himself as they talk into the night, you have no idea how you make me feel.