He Can't Forget | ✓

6 | imbalanced halves

Marinette was a light sleeper.

She supposed it was because she was a mother, and therefore, was always on high alert in case her daughter happened to get up in the middle of the night or call for her from her bedroom. An instance that would be a good example were potty accidents that didn't happen often, but every now and then. Her point being: it was an instinct Marinette knew she hadn't had before giving birth to Emma, that was for sure. And although the skill was rather beneficial, it was also incredibly annoying. Because that meant any noise was bound to wake her up.

So when she heard a bedroom door slowly creak open, Marinette's eyes snapped open in a matter of seconds.

At first, she thought it was Emma trying to subtly crawl into her bed without trying to wake her up. Since her bedroom door was slightly ajar in case her daughter wanted to do so, it was easy to see any movement in the hallway before it passed her bedroom.

She didn't think much of it when she saw Nino pass by instead of her daughter.

She only started to get suspicious when she heard really loud whispering.

Marinette tried to ignore it... she really had. She knew it was probably Nino and Adrien just catching up with each other and not meaning any harm by it. But despite the many times she tossed and turned hoping she could fall asleep, it seemed she never would unless whoever was trying to whisper quietly would shut their mouth. Grudgingly, Marinette slowly got out of bed and quietly continued a leisure pace down the hall.

She was about to round the corner and tell them to please be quiet, until something Adrien said had her stopping in her tracks seconds before revealing herself.

"How can I not take it personal? She gave me grief!"

Something about that phrase didn't sit right with her, and something told her not to let it be known that she was there. Instead, Marinette leaned back against the wall just as Nino loudly shushed Adrien for being too loud. For a second, she was worried Nino would get up to check and see if anyone had heard them and end up discovering she was there.

But much to her relief, he didn't. They were both silent for a while as they listened to see if anyone had woke. She held her breath as she listened to Nino let out a relieved, but heavy sigh, his next words to Adrien only confusing her further. "Look man. Your fears are valid, but your hesitance isn't. You can't let fear control your life. If you do that, you'll never live. You'll just exist." There was another beat of silence before he then added, "You owe it to both Ladybug and Marinette to see them again and make things right."

Marinette's eyebrows shot up in confusion the moment those words reached her ears. Without any context, that made absolutely no sense. And even if it were to have context, that still didn't make any sense. Why would Adrien Agreste need to owe her (in both of her identities) anything? Sure, Adrien had been her friend when they were kids, and her silly high-school crush when they were teenagers before he had kindly rejected her and she had fallen in love with Chat Noir, but he didn't owe her anything. And what about Ladybug? What could Adrien possibly owe her? She didn't know him well enough with the mask on.

"Okay." She heard Adrien say, sounding defeated himself. "You're right. I'll... see Ladybug first. Tomorrow in fact."

Her eyebrows rose only further up her forehead. This didn't make any sense.

"Great. I'm glad to hear it." Nino said.

Neither of them were making any sense.

"But... I'm not going to tell Marinette that I'm Chat Noir just yet."