Summary:Adrien can no longer deny it - he is in love with Marinette! The only problem is, she has made it absolutely clear that she is definitely not interested in him. But when he discovers that Marinette might be harboring feelings for Chat Noir, Adrien decides that there is only one way to get together with her: Reveal his identity.
Trouble is? She doesn’t believe him.
Hello and welcome! This fic was written for the @totographszine, which was publish for free here. Go check it out, the wonderful @anna-scribbles even did some excellent art of this fic in there.
Adrien was in love with Marinette. There was no getting around that any more. But, unfortunately, it didn’t seem that she felt the same way.
Ever since he had come to terms with his feelings, he’d been trying to flirt with her. A few cheesy lines here. Some lingering touches and eye contact there. Compliments scattered throughout the day. Although, as he had realized now, it was harder to compliment her more than he already had been. How had it taken him so long to figure out his feelings?
The worst part of it was that she even flirted back! Which may sound great, but his experiences with Ladybug had taught him that flirting back could also mean friendly banter. It was a frustratingly similar experience, which he chose not to dwell on too hard.
And just like with Ladybug, he was at least appreciating the friendship that he could share with Marinette. Now that she had begun to open up to him, he was learning all sorts of things about her. Her favorite foods, what exactly tickled her most, her little mannerisms.
One day he learned the most important little fact about Marinette of them all.
“What is it with you and crushin’ on celebs, girl?”
Adrien recognized Alya’s voice at once and his eyes widened when he realized who she was likely talking to on the other side of the locker.
Sure enough, Marinette let out an irritated groan. There was a sound of a locker opening.
“What makes you think I have a crush on him? Just because I drew him in my notebook—”
“Oh sure, if you were justdrawing him, that’d be one thing. But the hearts and kissy faces tell a whole different story.”
Adrien stood stock-still, listening as intently as he could. It felt as if his heart had
stopped beating. Had he failed to win the hearts of both his crushes? Would he ever get a lucky break just for once?
“They weren’t—that’s—no! Those were …” Marinette sputtered and eventually mumbled something that sounded a lot like “spades.”
“Spades.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m just saying, girl, if you want I could probably mention your name the next time I see him. Sure it’d be harder to pull off than with blondie, but I’m down.”
“Drop it, Alya,” Marinette said half-heartedly. The locker door was shut and they walked toward the entrance. For a moment, he was scared they would turn around and see him eavesdropping. “I’m sure Chat Noir doesn’t want to have my number pushed into his hand.”
Adrien’s eyes widened as he suddenly jolted to life. Chat Noir?
“Maybe. We’ll only find out if we give it a shot.” Their voices got more distant as they walked away. “At least we know you’ve got a type now.”
“Alya!”
In his heart of hearts, Adrien hoped that type included boys with green eyes and blond hair. Would it be too much to ask that she fall for him a second time? Not just as Chat Noir but as Adrien?
It was there, standing alone in the locker room, heart pounding in his throat and feeling light headed, that Adrien was suddenly struck by a plan. And while he was no Ladybug, he was pretty confident about this one.
After all, he didn’t need to make her fall for him twice. She just needed to find out who Chat Noir was.
