𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫 | COMPLETE

『4』

Chapter 4 - Peach

Marinette was standing on her balcony, her arms crossed. She wore a determined look on her face as she gazed at the buildings surrounding the bakery.

"Marinette?"

She whirled around, her black hair whipping in the wind as she faced the superhero. Her eyes were squinted as she took in his awkward stance. Chat Noir's twitchy fingers entwined in a bouquet of roses and a nervous smile planted on his face.

He looked like an absolute dork.

"Chat Noir." He stared. She stared back.

"You're probably a little confused."

Marinette nodded, her eyebrow steadily raising as she waited for an explanation.

"So," he said. Looking anywhere but at her. Marinette could feel her cheeks heating up. "Adrien Agreste does send you flowers. He does sort of, kind of, really like you and he did ask me to give you the roses."

"And you agreed to it?" She asked, deciding to contain the excited squeal that might have escaped her mouth if she wasn't talking to Chat. Her eyes narrowed as he shifted under her gaze. "I don't think you're allowed to do that."

Chat didn't answer at first. He pondered a bit. "... I owe him."

"You're a superhero," she reminded him. "If anything he probably owes you, unless..." Marinette's mouth parted slightly as she considered the possibility, "...he knows your secret identity."

She ended the sentence like a question and let it sit in the chill evening air.

"It's not like that," He told her. "I know him as a civilian and I owe him."

If you were going into technicalities, there was no lie. Adrien, as himself, knew himself because, well, he was him. Though Adrien noticed that Marinette didn't really look like she believed him.

"You — " She paused and squinted at him suspiciously as she took in his appearance, from his messy hair and dorky smile to his catsuit and bell, "—know Adrien?"

Chat looked a little offended, "I do!"

"I don't believe you," Marinette said, crossing her arms once again.

"What other explanation do you have?" Chat challenged, mirroring her expression and moving his hands so that they were in the same position.

She opened her mouth to answer, "I can think of many other possible reasons."

"Fine," Chat stared down at her in determination. She stared back with equal power. "Name one."

Marinette's eyes flickered as she continued to look at him. He could almost see the gears turning in her brain and he wondered how he had never made the connection before. Marinette and Ladybug were so similar. It was pretty obvious why after finding out that they were in fact, the same person.

"Okay. So, maybe I don't have an answer." Marinette admitted and Chat grinned. " But, it still doesn't make much sense."

"Why?" he said in a confused tone, questioning.

"Because," she moved her arms around and gestured at his body, "Well... that."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You're—well, you're Chat Noir and Adrien is... Adrien," she said, trying to explain without being mean.

Chat leaned against the wall and squinted at her. "That's not much of an explanation."

She sighed, "Whatever, maybe you do know Adrien as a civilian. Why'd you come here as Chat Noir?" "It's much easier to drop off flowers to a girl's balcony with super-strength," he replied easily, smiling a bit, feeling confident. "I'm not about to scale your wall and give you them as a random purr -son. I don't even like my dad enough for that."

Marinette let out a giggle at the comment and Chat's face lit up. She rearranged her face into a serious look, though the smile she was suppressing was ironically obvious to him.

"You laughed," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"I did not." He stepped forward so that he was in front of her. The peach coloured roses, she noticed, were still in his hands.

"You definitely did."

Marinette, being Marinette, momentarily forgot that she was in fact, at this moment, Marinette, so she leaned forward with a teasing look on her face. "In your dreams."

And Adrien, being Adrien, decided that he was in fact, at this moment, consciously trying not to die.

They were both blushing. That was normal. Right?

Chat held out the roses and she smiled at them. "They're beautiful," Marinette stated.

"Thank—um, yeah, Adrien thought they were too."

"He has good taste," Marinette said, picking one up and sniffing it once. "Good trait in a guy."

"O-oh yeah. I'll tell him."

She looked up and met his eyes, "You'll give them to me... every week?"

"For as long as it takes him to ask you out," he replied, turning around and getting ready to pounce off to the next building.

"But—Chat, I like him too."

"I'm sorry, what ?"

His head had whipped around so fast, Marinette swore it was just a blur of blonde hair.

"Uh," her face scrunched in confusion, "I-I like him too?"

"You do?" he asked eagerly.

She wasn't sure when he had gotten so close to her. "I—yes, I do like him. I have for a long time.."

His eyes were as wide as saucers, "You—you like Adrien."

Marinette pushed him away to arm's length, "Yeah. That's what I just said."

"So—so, you'd say yes if he asked you out?"

She laughed bitterly, "I'd probably say something stupid and run away like an idiot. I can't talk properly with him about stuff like that."

"Would you ask him out then?"

"In my dreams," she groaned, flopping down on the beach chair. "I'm a wreck around that boy."

For a moment, he was silent.

"What if you went on... practice dates?"

She squinted. "Practice... dates."

"Like, you pretend that I'm Adrien and we'll pretend to go on a date."

Another silence enveloped the two.

Marinette thought about it for a moment, shifting her weight side to side. Then she finally said, "That's so stupid."

"Yeah, but it could work."

"Chat," Marinette got up and stalked towards him, "you're a superhero. How do you even know it's gonna work? More like how is it going to work? If I say yes."

"Mari," he smiled reassuringly and put his hands on her shoulder, "It's gonna go well. Adrien really likes you and he's not able to make any moves any time soon because, well, he's Adrien and you're Marinette. But, if you make the first move..."

He let the comment hang in the air; both of them knew what the next few words were.

Chat could see her frown as she glanced around like she always did during akuma attacks. At least she was thinking about it.

Marinette stopped and looked him dead in the eye like she was studying everything about him. Finally, she let out a breath.

"Fine," she took his gloved hand and gingerly pressed a kiss to the black fabric. Looking up she laughed softly at his tomato red face, "Will you go on a date with me, Adrien Agreste?"