Chat noir and Ladybug bounced around and ran across the rooftops toward Marinette's house. Ladybug gave Chat noir the miracle box and instructed him to place it on her bed while she made her way inside the house. Just before they arrived at her house, he watched her go into an alley. A bright flash of light shined and he smiled, watching her run into the bakery and he jumped on top of the roof. He opened the latch and made his way down the ladder, landing on her bed.
He heard muffled voices below him and then footsteps coming up that made his heart start to thump faster. The door opened and there stood Tom.
"Ah! He is here. I thought I heard a thump. You're just in time! Come down, dinner is ready." Tom smiled.
Chat noir smiled and nodded, hopping down and passed Tom going down the stairs. He saw Marinette helping set the table and indeed there were four bowls placed. Tom put his arm around Chat noir's shoulder and leaned down to Chat noir's ear.
"Don't be staring at my daughter like that. She has a boyfriend already." Tom laughed, making Chat noir blushed and got visibly nervous.
"I-I wasn't staring! I know she has a boyfriend." He said, rubbing the back of his neck, causing Marinette to turn to look at him with a soft smile.
"Alright you two, come eat. Stop picking on Chat noir, dear." Sabine chuckled.
"Ok, ok." Tom laughed, walking and taking a seat beside Sabine at the dinner table.
Marinette slid in and sat down at the table across from her mother and turned to Chat noir. He swallowed and took a seat beside her, noticing that she was acting normal to say the least.
"So, you know Marinette has a boyfriend?" Tom asked.
"Uh... yeah! I do." Chat replied nervously, hoping Tom wouldn't pry but knew that was in vain.
"You know it's that Agreste boy right? Adrien." Tom said, eating a bite of food off of his plate.
Chat looked at Sabine's face and saw she was displeased with the conversation topic but didn't say anything to him except a sharp look that told him to change the topic.
"Umm... what do you think of Adrien?" Chat said, hoping that it would help Tom a little with his wife's strict glare.
"Hm... I like the boy. He's a nice kid. He... just has a lot he's dealing with." Tom said.
"Dealing with?" Chat asked.
"You know, his father being Hawkmoth and all. He was going to have to move but his aunt and cousin decided to stay. His life is just extremely complicated. I'm glad Marinette is in his life. She is such a sweet girl, she will cheer him up and help him through it." Tom smiled, looking over at his daughter.
"Dad... Why don't you go get dessert?" Marinette smiled, seeing how the conversation affected Chat noir.
"Uh.. it's alright. I'm going to skip dessert if you don't mind. Thank you for the delicious meal Mr. and Mrs. Dupain Cheng, if you'll excuse me." Chat said, sliding out from the table and walking up to her bedroom.
"Tom! Did you say something to upset him?" Sabine questioned.
"Adrien said he was his friend. I assumed he knew all of that." Tom said, confused.
Marinette frowned as she watched him disappear upstairs. How could her parents know that Chat noir was Adrien? They basically reopened the wounds that he was probably pushing deep down and didn't want to think about.
"Thank you for dinner, I'm going upstairs. We're gonna watch a movie or something and I'll see what's wrong." Marinette said.
"Alright dear, sorry about upsetting your friend." Sabine said.
Marinette hugged her parents and then proceeded to follow Chat noir upstairs, where she found him lying on her bed facing the wall. She frowned and picked up a little box from inside of her dresser that was secretly hidden and climbed up to lay down beside him. She took a deep breath and nudged his shoulder, placing the box down in her lap as he turned to face her.
"I'm sorry if my father hurt your feelings." Marinette said.
"He... didn't. It's nice to know that your family cares for me that much but it still hurts to know that my father is suspected of being Hawkmoth." Chat noir sighed, not noticing the box in her lap.
"I forgot to tell you something... speaking of Hawkmoth..." Marinette said, making Chat noir turn his head to her.
"When I picked Felix up and gave him the Cat miraculous. I told him you were akumatized. He was very surprised and said: But how- Nathalie was-... as if he suspected Nathalie to be-"
"She couldn't be Marinette. She's been there for me and took care of me. I can at least back her up. She cares for me, unlike my father." Chat frowned.
Marinette wanted to push the issue but knew if she did, it would only cause a fight. She didn't have any proof except a hunch that Felix had after all. She didn't want to hurt Adrien any more than he already was.
"You're right. I'm sorry." She said, placing her hand on his cheek with a soft smile.
He placed his hand on her hand and smiled back. He noticed the box in her lap now and sat up.
"What's in the box?" He asked, feeling her take her hand off of his cheek and saw her place it on top of the lid instead.
"I think it's time we had that talk..." She said, seeing his curious face turn into a more anxious one.
Adrien looked over at Tikki who was sitting beside Marinette and sighed, thinking about the talk him and Tikki had before they left his home.
"Yeah... Maybe we should." He said with a comforting smile.
"Inside this box, is how I feel. How I've always felt. I want to know how you're feeling Adrien." She frowned.
"I-..." He stopped himself.
He was so used to pretending and was about to tell her he was fine. Though... she knew he wasn't. He knew he wasn't. It was time to stop pretending.
"I'm upset about the kiss." He sighed, pulling his knees to his chest.
"Chat... Adrien..."
"I know... I know... You're going to tell me to grow up and that it was the only solution. I get it-"
"No. Not at all." She interrupted him, which caught him by surprise.
"I was going to say... I think I could have come up with another solution if I was in the right state of mind. I was so worried about your safety and the world's that Felix had to step in and... do the problem solving instead. I think he only thought of a solution that would distract you, not solve the issue." Marinette explained.
It took a minute for it to click for Chat noir to understand.
"Marinette- It's not your fault either! I didn't mean to make you feel like it was!" He apologized.
"Adrien.. It's ok. The... situation was... weird. Yes. Though... What's inside this box here. What I told you... I still stand by what I said. Regardless of some random kiss." Marinette smiled, sliding the box into his lap.
"You said... what's in this box is how you feel? Right?" Chat said, watching her nod and then looking down at the box.
He carefully lifted the box's lid and saw a ton of pictures of Adrien inside. Glitter and hearts scattered around them. Some were even from photoshoots years from then.
"These... are just pictures of me?" He asked, confused. "You said you were just a fan of the Agreste brand and models..."
"That might have been a little white lie." She laughed.
"A white lie?" He said, picking up a few pictures and examining them, then continued digging through the box.
He found letters stashed in the bottom and looked at Marinette, her face burning bright red. He opened it up and read it aloud.
"Dear Adrien,
I don't have the courage to tell you in person, so Alya told me to write to you and practice! I sit behind you in class everyday and sometimes I drift away thinking about what it would be like if we were actually on a date or... eating Andre's ice cream together. You never read my poem I wrote to you... and I wonder if I will ever figure out who you love with the blue bell eyes... though one day... I hope... we can be together and that I'm those bluebell eyes you wrote about." Adrien read aloud, seeing Marinette's face grow brighter and brighter with each word.
"You can stop reading it aloud now. That's supposed to be private... the only reason you're reading them is because... you're..." She trailed off.
"I get it bugaboo. Though I was technically talking about you. At the time I was talking about LB, mysterious disguise and all. Though now... I see how blind I was." He laughed.
"It's alright, we were both blind." She smiled, taking the letter and pictures from him and placing them back inside the box, shutting the lid back.
"So... did you get clarity on how I feel?" Marinette smiled, getting ready to stand up and return the box back, but felt his hand brush hers.
"Marinette?" He said, looking up at her.
"H-huh? Yes?" She replied.
"Thank you." He smiled.
She smiled and placed a kiss on his cheek and jumped down to her desk and stored the box back in her secret compartment where she stashed the miracle box, then returned back up the bed.
"Do you care if I sleep here tonight?" He asked.
"Oh? We have school in the morning. You don't think your aunt will catch on?" Marinette asked.
"I'll leave here in the morning before she notices." He said, opening the blankets and crawling inside them, making room for Marinette to crawl into as well.
"I... have a proposition to make..." Marinette said, looking to Chat noir and to Tikki who was looking up from inside of her purse.
"What... is it?" He asked.
"What is it Marinette?" Tikki asked, curious.
"How would you two... feel about... telling Alya and Nino?" Marinette smiled sheepishly.