April 8th
Miss Dial (4:55am): Hi early riser, look who's joining the club?
Mr Unknown (4:59am): Do my eyes deceive me? Is she awake before dawn?
Miss Dial (5:01am): I am!!! Though it's fair to say I'm not a morning person. My parents have already threatened to disown me twice.
Mr Unknown (5:03am): Ouch! So did you decide instead of annoying them you were going to annoy me?
Miss Dial (5:05am): Exactly! You can't disown me because you don't know me #winning
Mr Unknown (5:07am): As heartbroken as I am for not being first choice (again), what can I do for you Miss Dial?
Miss Dial (5:09am): I just really needed someone to talk to.
Mr Unknown (5:10am): Anything specific? Maybe about that workplace romance you want to get fired for?
Miss Dial (5:11am): I don't do romance. This is the closest thing I have to a relationship.
Mr Unknown (5:12am): Then I must say, I am well and truly flattered and will take my duty seriously.
Miss Dial (5:13am): Why thank you, kind Sir! I hope I can compare to those two kisses you've had 💋
Mr Unknown (5:14am): Wouldn't take much... I can't remember either of them thanks to the akuma's influence. The girl who kissed me though is incredible. I'm either really lucky or tremendously cursed for not remembering it.
Marinette placed the phone down in her bag. No! No way! Her luck couldn't be this good... or this bad? Picking up the phone again, she went back to Mr Unknown's messages. Reading through the old messages she couldn't deny the amount of puns being used was extreme and the way he'd used words like 'his litter' . She felt like this sudden realisation was screaming in her face.
Pulling up a fresh message, she text:
Miss Dial (5:15am): And this girl... is she special to you?
Tapping the phone restlessly against her chin, she attempted to keep her eyes on the pavement and make her way steadily to the Metro station. This couldn't be... it just couldn't. The phone buzzed against her skin and she reopened the messages.
Mr Unknown (5:19am) : She is... but don't worry, there's room for you too. We're not together if that's what you're asking, but she will always be my best friend. We work together and I can tell her everything.
Oh God! There was no going back now! She was 100% sure this message was from her crime fighting partner, Chat Noir. It was just so natural. There was no one else she was ever this natural with... it suddenly made a whole lot of unnerving sense.
Tapping out one last message, she dropped her phone in her bag and headed down the steps at Gare Du Nord station, her phone losing signal as she made her way down.
Miss Dial (5:22am): So, Monsieur two kisses. What would be your perfect third? Or should I say first, as it'll be the first one you remember?
The message had been sent and she was suddenly regretting her newly found braveness. What was she thinking?
Whatever his response was would have to wait until she got to Charles De Gaulle and she'd deal with the sudden intense fluttering in her stomach then. Could she really continue this back and forth with Mr Unknown, if he was Chat Noir?
Part of her wanted to stop before this took them somewhere irreversible; however, the other part was in complete denial and told her that if she didn't clarify him being Chat Noir, then why not carry on? After all, it was just innocent messaging.
As soon as the train hit civilization again, her phone began to alert her to its presence, no doubt one of the messages was from Mr Unknown. She needed to chill. Just leave it for a few more minutes before checking on the response that she was quite sure would be flirty.
The train slowed to a stop, Marinette launching herself out the seat and grabbing her case from where it sat behind her chair. If she could just get through all this keeping her focus, she could panic when she reached the departure lounge. Another excuse to avoid any conversation with Adrien Agreste.
But having her phone in her pocket was like having fleas. She itched to grab it and see what Chat Noir/not Chat Noir had to say. She knew her partner and she knew it would be all romance. That way it would 100% confirm that this guy was indeed her guy... Well, not her guy. But her guy. Oh, man this had just gotten complicated.
Marinette had known there was something there with Chat Noir for years, but instead of embracing it she'd pushed it deep into the depths of her mind. A forbidden love. A crush. A chase after the guy that was accessible. But now, after so much wonderful conversation with Mr Known, the feelings were back with added intensity.
She liked him — like, really liked him. Mr Unknown had buried himself under her skin and she loved the relationship they had. The question was: could she cope if it was Chat Noir?
What she didn't like was the nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her to stop. That whatever this was would only end in heartache. Most likely hers. Sure, Chat Noir was clear about his attraction to Ladybug, but would Chat Noir be as impressed with the clumsy, fluffy girl underneath the armour.
But she was once again getting ahead of herself. She didn't know this was Chat Noir, she was just presuming... something she'd done 100 times in the past and been proved wrong.
Pull yourself together, Marinette.
Passing through the X-ray machines, she couldn't help but take a quick glance at her phone screen as she placed the object in the tray.
Mr Unknown.
His message was right there, just waiting for her to accept and answer. She was both intrigued and terrified at the same time. She'd become dependent on this guy, this guy she didn't know; and now there was a possibility of placing a face to an unknown name and it terrified her.
Her phone signalled a different chime. An email incoming. She quickly placed it into the plastic tray before moving through the metal detectors in preparation to grab her belongings on the other side.
Clear from metal objects, Marinette moved forward to grab the phone from the tray, opening up the email first.
From: AAgreste
To: MDupainCheng
Subject: Departure Lounge.
Hi Marinette,
I'm in the first class lounge if you fancy coming to join me for an early morning breakfast? Don't feel pressured.
Adrien
Hoisting her bag onto her back, she wandered over towards the main area of the departure lounge and looked for the signs to the first class lounge. It wasn't that she wanted to see Adrien, it was more the fact that she wanted to experience something so fancy. It wasn't very often you were able to take advantage of such freebies.
Spotting the airline's lounge on a sign above, she headed in that direction pulling up Chat/not Chat's number and reading the message.
Mr Unknown (5:43am): If you must know, Miss Nosey, I've always wanted one of those kisses that absorb you in. Starting nice and slow, caressing the other person and giving them no room to doubt feelings. One that you would feel from the top of your head and curl the bottom of your toes.
Romantic. Just like... she took a deep breath and responded to him, ignoring the masked face of her partner as it tried to push through.
Miss Dial (6:24am): Well, aren't you just an old romantic. How did you get all that from only two kisses you can't remember? Do I smell bullshit?
Mr Unknown (6:25am): No! I'm just adorable; a total softy at heart! How about you? I've spilt my tea, you now need to spill yours.
M'Lady... the added affectionate name blended seamlessly against the words, linking onto the end like it was made for it.
Pushing open the doors to the lounge, Marinette presented her ticket to the receptionist before being led into the main area.
After a quick tour of the seating area and the breakfast bar, Marinette scanned the room looking for her victim. Between the professional men in business suits and ladies of leisure with perfect hair and nails, she finally landed on a guy that looked as though he'd just freed himself from the latest cover of GQ.
Adrien looked so chilled and perfect that Marinette was tempted to grab the jug of orange juice and go and tip it over his head. Instead, she took her time deciding on a hot drink and took the moment to text her friend back.
Miss Dial (6:48am): I've always been one for strong, passionate kisses. Just being grabbed and held tightly by someone... or being pushed up against a wall in a need to get closer? A main course of lip kisses before moving onto a side dish of neck bites.
Looking over towards where Adrien sat at the table, she continued to finish making her coffee before grabbing the mug and taking it over towards the table Adrien was sitting at, his attention firmly on his phone as his fingers moved around the keypad quickly, almost as if he was typing then deleting a message over and over again.
"Good morning, sunshine!" she announced cheerfully, ignoring the buzz in her pocket.
Slamming the phone face down onto the table, Adrien turned around to face Marinette, a smile placed firmly on his face before standing up and pulling out the chair beside him.
He was sitting on a bar stool looking out the window at the runaway, the view of every plane spotter's dream.
"Good morning, I was beginning to think you'd stood me up." He leaned forward as though he was going to kiss her on the cheek, before moving back quickly.
Right choice, buster!
Pushing her in, Adrien climbed back onto his own seat, his eyes never leaving hers.
"I considered it. Not going to lie." She lifted the coffee cup to her lips only to wince and move it away. "Damn, forgot the sugar."
Leaving the mug where it was, Marinette hopped from the seat. Leaving her phone on the table.
Moving away, she quickly found a couple of sugar packets, the faint sound of a buzz vibrating on top of wood and against porcelain brought her attention back to the table. She moved over quickly not wanting Adrien to see her correspondence with her special friend. But the first thing she noticed when she returned to her seat was that Adrien's face was as pale as a sheet.
"Are you okay, Agreste?"