Adrien's POV
I watch as Marinette walks into the classroom, arm and arm with Alya. I smile and sigh a love-sick sigh, resting my head on the palm of my hand. She looks at me, and immediately rubs the back of her neck and giggles softly.
I notice she's wearing a long sleeve shirt, which is odd because it's almost summer. That can only mean one thing. The dark magic has grown so much that it's harder and harder to hide it.
I can relate. My hair is almost as messy as my Chat Noir hair, in my best effort to cover up the dark magic growing from the ladybug miraculous stuck to my ears. Concealer can only help so much (unless I just want to paint my whole face) .
"Hey, Mari!" I greet, waving her over.
She cheerfully smiles and skips over to where I'm sitting. She places her bags down and smiles with blush resting on her cheeks.
"W-What's up?" she bashfully asks, looking down towards her feet pointing inward.
"Do you want to sit by me?" I ask with a smile.
She immediately looks up and her eyes grow wide like a child's would. She stands on the tips of her toes and nods her head, and slides next to me. I smile gently and place my arm around her shoulders. She flinches and her face heats up, but she eventually leans into me.
"Oooh, look at the lovebugs," Alya teases, crossing her arms over her chest and smirking with her weight on one leg. "Are y'all dating, or what?"
I feel Marinette slightly jump. She twirls her hair around in her fingers and looks at me with big eyes, afraid of the answer. I smile reassuringly and ruffle her hair, then look at Alya.
"I-I don't know about that, Alya!" Marinette stutters frantically.
Alya's cheeky grin grows from ear to ear. She immediately whips her phone out and takes a picture. Marinette quickly grows embarrassed and scolds Alya.
She shrugs. "Well, tell me when y'all got an answer. But first, I gotta take a picture for the future children! This is my otp!"
"A-ALYA!" Marinette squeaks, her face flushing bright red.
I exploded in laughter. Marinette frantically looks at a smirking Alya and then back to me, then sighs from relief. She smiles, exhausted, and leans into me.
"Anyways Mari, how long are you going to go without your signature earrings?" She asks, tilting her head up and looking down on her friend.
I give her a weird look. "Um, does it matter?"
Alya frowns. "Never mind then. I'm just looking out for my friend."
Both Marinette and I look at each other with a confused look.
"What... just happened?" I ask Marinette, slightly concerned.
"I have no idea," Marinette tells me, looking at her best friend who's now walking away.
Now is the time, Adrien. You can't keep lying.
"Hey Mari?" I gently ask her, brushing her bangs behind her ears.
"Yeah?"
"Could you meet me after school today? There's something I want to talk to you about."
She looks at me with her big blue-bell eyes. "Why? Is there something wrong?"
I shake my head. "You'll see."
The class starts and students quickly file into their seats. Marinette sits back up and leans away from my grasp. I smile, knowing that she's probably blushing beyond belief. She quickly grabs her notebook out of her bag and starts scribbling down notes. I lean over and look in my bag to do the same.
Except, a tiny black cat sits at the bottom of my bag.
"Plagg?" I whisper. "What are you doing here?"
"Kid, I need to talk to you," he whispers back.
Instantly I feel a feeling of dread. Nothing ever good comes out of a 'we need to talk'. I nod to Plagg, then raise my hand and wait for the teacher to call on me.
"Could I go to the bathroom?" I ask. The teacher nods, and I head out of the classroom.
"Um, Adrien?" The teacher asks, stopping me when I reach the door. "Why are you taking your bag to the bathroom?"
I nervously smile. "Uhhh... men problems?"
The teacher looks at me oddly, and the class giggles. I nervously wave and slam the door, running down the steps to the bathroom.
"Real smooth, blondie," Plagg teases me.
I roll my eyes. I burst into the men's room and shut the door behind me, quickly glancing around the white tile covered room to make sure that no one in the room sees me talking to some 5000 year old god of destruction.
I lean against a wall and cross my arms. "Make this quick, Plagg. As much as I would love to talk to you and catch up, I can't miss too much of class."
Plagg smirks. "Or, do you just want to go back to cuddling with Marinette?"
"Are you going tell me what was so important, or what?" I ask him, my tone tense.
"Fine, fine!" Plagg laughs.
I stand up and look around the room, then in my bag. "Wait - where's Tikki?"
"Tikki will talk to Marinette about what I'm going to talk to you about later," the black kwami informs me.
I nod, and lean against the cool tile wall with my ears open.
"Tikki and I both think that Alya knows that you two are the heroes that protect Paris."
I jump. "What?"
Plagg nods. "Ever since the day at the park, Alya has noticed something odd with you two. She's constantly pointing out either Marinette's ring or your earrings. She's constantly trying to get a closer look at it. That's too much evidence to be a coincidence."
"Oh my god, I never noticed..." I mutter, terrified.
Plagg rolls his eyes. "Yeah, I know. You're oblivious."
"Hey!"
"What? I can't help that you have a total of two brain cells."
"Plagg!"
Plagg snickers. "I'm joking, I'm joking!"
I sigh, ruining my hands through my hair and nervously looking around. "This is bad, Plagg. Alya would spill our identities everywhere on the internet. I would lose Marinette as Adrien and Mister Bug because of my carelessness."
Plagg's eyes look away from my stare. "About that..."
Shit.
Plagg looks away from my eyes.
"... she doesn't like Mister Bug."
I freeze.
Plagg continues. "At least, she doesn't want to admit it."
I feel my heart shatter into a million tiny pieces.
"W-What?"
"She... she told me that she doesn't like Mister Bug," Plagg repeats, his voice more hushed this time.
She... she doesn't like Mister Bug?
All this time, I thought she liked me as Adrien and Mister Bug. All this time, I thought she was flirting with me both in and out of costume. All this time, I thought she liked both sides of me.
"Plagg..." I mutter, with wide eyes and blinking back tears. "Are... are you sure?"
Plagg sighs, then rests on my head. "I think she does like you, but she won't admit it. And if she doesn't admit it..."
Tears start to form.
"...then it's no use if she really likes you or not."
I hold myself, tears staring to fall. "Plagg, Mister Bug is who I really am!"
Plagg stares at me with sadness in his eyes.
"No, Chat Noir is who I really am. I get to act like how I want without having to act like the perfect model. I don't have to put on a fake mask. I don't have to have the spotlight constantly on me!"
Plagg hugs my cheek. "I know, kid."
I stressfully run my hands through my hair with my heartbeat pounding against my chest. I slowly slide down the wall and collapse on the ground, tears falling down my cheeks.
"She only likes the fake me," I mumble, tasting the salt from my tears.
"No, Adrien, she-"
"Everyone likes the fake me," I continue, my voice quivering. "Everyone likes the model, and not the cat."
"Adrien, but you are the model!" Plagg shouts, floating right in front of my eyes. "You're not two different people! You're the same person! You're you!"
I curl into a ball and hold my knees to my chest. "If Mister Bug and I are the same people, then why doesn't she like both sides of me?"
Plagg opens his mouth, but then slowly closes it.
I glare. "Exactly. She only likes the side of me that everyone created themselves."
"Adrien, she doesn't know-"
"Why can't I tell her, Plagg?!" I cry with my voice cracking. "Why?!"
"You're aren't supposed to know each other's identities! That's why!"
"Then if she doesn't like Mister Bug, she won't like the real me!" I shout, tears cascading down my cheeks.
Plagg holds my thumb with his tiny paws. "Adrien, please listen! What if she's just trying to be loyal to you?"
I stand up and wipe my tears off my eyes. "Then why does she treat me so differently from Mister Bug?"
Plagg freezes. "Are you... are you going to end things with her?"
I say nothing. That's a good enough answer for him.
"Adrien, no! You just got the girl of your dreams! She's madly in love with you! You shouldn't end things with her just because she doesn't like both sides of you!"
"Adrien, there you are!" Tikki giggles, phasing through the door, obvious to what's going down. "Did everything go oka- oh my god! What happened?"
I splash water on my face, then toss my bag over my shoulder again. "Nothing. I should head back to class. Plagg, you should head back to Marinette."
Plagg tries to say something, but then closes his mouth and silently flies away. I feel a stab in my heart for how cruelly I treated Plagg, but it's too late now. I'll have to, no, I need to apologize to him later.
I take slow, deep breaths and grab the bathroom door, ready to head back to class.
"Wait Adrien, the dark magic coming from your earrings... it's grown!" Tikki points out, scared.
I look in the mirror, and quietly gasp. "You're right... but why?"
I stare in the mirror watching the black roots grow deeper into my skin.
"I didn't even use my powers," I whisper.
"Are you sure?" Tikki asks, flying closer to me.
I slowly nod, and reach into my bag and grab concealer to paint over the newly formed black lines. This is not good.
Marinette's POV
Today was a long day. First, Alya wouldn't stop pestering me about my ring, then Nino wouldn't shut up about how Todoroki is overrated, and lastly Chloé wouldn't stop talking to me about her 'prize collection of Gucci belts'. Oh my god. Is that her only personality trait? Being rich? Talk about annoying.
Anyways, it doesn't matter. My day is about to get better anyway. I sit silently in front of the school waiting for Adrien as rain slowly starts to form. The dark clouds grumble and rain gently falls on the concrete, forming puddles all along Paris.
Maybe Adrien will give me his umbrella again. Or maybe, he'll walk with me, shoulder to shoulder, with his umbrella to share. Or maybe his body guard will come pick us up and I could go over to his house!
"Oh Plagg, what do you think he's going to do? Is he going to give me a gift? Or maybe a romantic kiss in the rain? Oh, how I want to know~!" I sing, childishly pressing my hands against my flushed cheeks and bashfully closing my eyes.
Plagg doesn't say anything.
"Plagg?" I ask, peaking in my purse.
The kwami sits at the bottom of my tiny bag, curled up and looking upset. He looks at me with sad eyes, and sighs.
"Don't... don't get your hopes up."
Suddenly thunder crashes in the background. I look at the kwami with concerned eyes, then slowly look straight ahead. What does he mean? Maybe he means I missed Adrien, and he already went home? Maybe Adrien forgot about me?
I hear the school doors open and close behind me. I whip my head around and stare at the blond standing in front of me. He stares at me, not saying anything.
"Adrien...?" I whisper, holding my bags to my chest.
He seems to snap out of whatever he was in, and slowly makes his way over to me. He smiles weakly and nods, but looks away from my gaze. He stops about five feet away from me, not daring to come any closer.
"Adrien?" I repeat, feeling a pit form in my stomach. "What's wrong?"
I reach out for him and take a step towards his warmth, but he ignores me and takes a small step away from me.
"I-I'm sorry my la-" He clears his throat. "I mean, Marientte."
"You're sorry?" I repeat, fear growing in my body.
He solemnly nods, still avoiding my eyes. Maybe if I change the mood, what I fear won't happen.
I put on a fake smile and lean towards my love. "Did you forget your umbrella? If you did, it's fine. I did too. We'll walk home together!"
Adrien shakes his head. "No. It's not that, Marinette."
My eyes grow wide. I lean away from him and blink back tears.
"O-Oh. Okay. W-What is it, then?" I ask, shaking.
He bites his lip.
No. Please, please no. This can only mean one thing. The thing I dread the most. The thing I fear I could be akumatized for.
Please, Adrien, please don't do this.
"Marinette ..."
Adrien, please.
"...I think..."
Don't.
"...we should not be together anymore."
Breakups are painful. Especially if you give no reason to.
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