Thunderstorm Series: Part 2 (Downpour)

Chapter 5: Her fear

"I got you a green tea. I hope that's alright." Adrien smiled, opening his bedroom door. His smile faded into a shocked expression when he saw his father standing over Marinette as she sat on the couch, almost as if she were being interviewed for a murder. The air was tense. He swallowed and rushed over to her side.

"Father? What are you doing in here?" He asked, nervously.

"Adrien? Why is she in your bedroom? Why is she here at all?" He glared.

"She is supposed to come over for dinner, remember? She won the fashion show. I invited her over early after school since she was supposed to come over anyway." He said, handing her some tea, seeing his father not liking his excuse.

"I was going to tutor her in some homework until we had some dinner tonight." Adrien said lying.

"Tutor?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Uh.. yeah. She missed a class the other day and I was going to catch her up." He smiled.

"Hmm... Fine. I will see you this evening for dinner... Miss Dupain Cheng." He said, walking out of the room.

Marinette sighed a breath of relief and opened the tea and chugged it, as if she had cottonmouth.

"Are you alright?" He laughed nervously.

"N-no!" She panicked.

"What did he say?" He said, taking a bite of a sandwich that he had on a plate.

"He wanted to know what I was doing here. I froze up. I couldn't speak. He told me to have a seat and we waited until you got back. It was too much, maybe I should just leave." Marinette said, shaking.

"Marinette. It'll be alright. We fight villains every day. You can have dinner with my father." He laughed.

"Just take a deep breath." He said, putting his hand on top of hers. She did what he said and cleared her mind, though it didn't help but acted like it did.

"Want to watch our show?" He smiled, walking over to the door and locking it. Though the gesture wasn't anything sexual or dirty, her mind went straight to the gutter. Her cheeks flushed red and he wondered what he could have done to make her blush.

He grabbed the remote and jumped onto his bed, clicking the Tv on, watching Marinette walk over to him awkwardly. He patted the spot beside him on his bed and smiled, watching her sit beside him.

"You can act like your normal self. Like I do at your house. Loosen up. My home is your home, Princess." He laughed, pulling her toward him.

He knew she was still uncomfortable at his home. Not only was the encounter with Gabriel overwhelming. She has never been to his home before. He knew that if she felt comfortable at first, now that his father burst in and scared her, she wasn't going to be comfortable now. His civilian self also still made her nervous. What could he do to make her more comfortable? He knew that her alter ego made her more confident but she was too responsible to use her alter ego for self-gain. But... he wasn't.

He looked over his shoulder and smirked at Plagg who groaned, knowing fully well what he was going to do.

"Plagg, claws out."

Marinette's eyes widened and saw the arms that were encased around her that were once bare turned into a leathery black. She turned her head and found Cat noir right in her face, closer than a kiss away, her nose touching his as her face turned. His bright green eyes smirking at her.

"Why did you transform?" She asked, confused as well as a little shocked.

"I know you're uncomfortable at my house. My father came in here first off. Now in my house for the first time, now in my bed, with me as Adrien. I know you say you're comfortable around me as Adrien but I know you're lying. You're more comfortable with your knight in shining armor, chat noir. Right?" He wiggled his eyebrows, making her roll her eyes as well as give a slight laugh.

"I am comfortable with you as Adrien," Marinette said.

"Ok, ok. You're more comfortable around Chat noir though. You can't say I'm wrong." He smiled, pulling her closer, watching her face turn redder.

"Fine, maybe just... slightly." She smiled.

"Oh? So you're going to let all of the Ladynoir fans down?" He smirked.

"Not at all. " She rolled her eyes, booping his nose.

Chat noir laughed, pulling her into a tight hug as they laughed together as they laid on the bed. Time seemed to have stood still once again. Though he was right, she seemed to have relaxed around him as Chat noir. It did make him a little sad, but he understood why. She was nervous around all of the new surroundings and Chat noir was always there for her since the beginning. He was familiar... He was her partner. He was her stability. She needed that and he would do that for her anytime. He would just need to work on getting her to not be as nervous around him as Adrien, but that would just take time.

"Adrien?" She said, looking into his eyes.

"Y-yes?" He said cautiously, wondering why she called him by his real name instead of chat noir like she normally did.

"Should we talk to your dad? Or do you want to just call the entire thing off?" She said in a sigh.

"Wait, I'm confused." He sat up, upset and confused, turning to her.

"What I mean is-"

"We're dating. I want to date you."

"Adrien. Let me finish-"

"Marinette! I'll talk to him! I promise. You don't have to worry-"

"Adrien! Let me finish."

His eyes widened. She was right. His mind ran away with him before he could even let her talk. He didn't even let her speak. He was just trying to stop her from speaking because he was afraid.

"Alright."

"I mean, we can still date, but in secret like we've been doing. Just not in our civilian selves. There wouldn't be any Chloe... or Lila drama. There wouldn't be any drama with your dad." She said, with a saddened smile, almost forced. He could tell it was a hurt smile, she didn't want to.

"You could come to my house as Chat noir and I come here as Ladybug. We can date each other as Ladybug and Chat noir just... not as civilians. Our civilian lives are... just not... realistic." She said.

"Realistic?" He asked, confused.

"No one would believe you actually liked someone like me. That's why everyone believed Chloe and Lila today." She frowned.

"Who cares?" He said

"I do!"

"I don't!" He protested, turning her to look at him.

"But Adrien- you don't understand-" she dropped her head so she wouldn't have to face him.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"I... I'm scared." She lifted her head up, in a whimper.

"I don't understand. Please. Tell me."

"I don't want you to be Chat blanc again." She said, a tear falling down her cheek.