A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction: Melting (COMPLETED)

Chapter 2: The Walk Home

He wanted to tell her that he found out, he wanted to tell her that it was ok because he was Chat noir, he wanted to tell her that he loved her with or without the mask but the words wouldn't come out. No. They couldn't come out. He knew if he told her that she would be upset that he found out and betrayed her trust. He would never want Marinette nor Ladybug to hate him let alone distrust him. Not only that but... he didn't want their Miraculous to be taken away because he found out, that wouldn't be fair to her.

Marinette took the ice cream from Andre and smiled at Adrien, giving him a spoon. Adrien looked at Marinette noticing that her cheeks were stained pink. He turned away and scratched the back of his neck and smiled, feeling his own cheeks starting to burn.

"Don't you want any Adrien? Or did you not want to share? I can get you your own if you want!" Marinette gave a half-hearted smile.

No. No. This is not what he wanted. He wanted to share ice cream with her. He couldn't choke out the right words. His mind was spinning. He couldn't overcome the overwhelming feelings that caused him to be nervous. He could tell she was upset, as he was but he remained quiet.

Marinette looked up at him and seemed to be making sure that he didn't ignore her.

"Oh uh No! It's just that..." Adrien began.

"Think Adrien, think!" Adrien thought!

"I just don't like ice cream!" Adrien blurted out. He mentally facepalmed as he realized what he had said. He knew she knew that he was lying because he had gotten ice cream with Kagami at one point.

"You don't like ice cream? Is it because of the flavor?" Marinette turned and looked down at her ice cream.

It was cherry as one scoop, pistachio as another scoop. Adrien looked down at the ice cream that had resembled their hero outfits and wanted to chuckle to himself but kept quiet. Adrien shook his head at Marinette's question and took a bite of ice cream, feeling its coldness and flavors soak in.

So this was what their ice cream tasted like. Chat Noir and Ladybug's ice cream. Adrien thought as he took another bite, seeing that Marinette's cheeks were red as they were eating together. He couldn't tell if it was the May summer sun or if she were blushing. He knew however that he loved teasing her and wanted to test the waters a little bit.

"You know, these ice cream flavors remind me a lot of Ladybug and Chat Noir," Adrien said softly, looking at the ice cream while glancing over to Marinette to see how she would respond.

Her face was flushed and her mouth hung open a little as if she were trying to think of how to respond. Adrien laughed to himself, remaining with his poker face.

"I don't think we would get Ladybug and Chat noir's ice cream. There is no way. You are way cooler than Chat noir." Marinette replied a little flushed as she took another bite.

Adrien realized that even as Marinette, she still didn't like Chat noir as much. This left him confused as to why though. Why as a civilian would she say that she doesn't like chat noir? Yeah, he knows she is ladybug, but why give an opinion of him if she was not supposed to know chat?

"You don't like chat noir?" Adrien asked, eating another bite of ice cream.

He could tell the question hit hard internally as it took her a few seconds to respond.

"Can you keep a secret?" Marinette smiled.

Oh. Oh. Was she going to reveal her identity? No. She would never do that. What could she be planning to tell him? Whatever it was, it had to deal with Chat noir. And to make matters worse, he was a little nervous to hear what Marinette thought of him. Adrien finally nodded to Marinette's question.

Marinette ate another bite and gave the final bite to Adrien as she blushed, turning away from him once he took it. Adrien ate the final bite and turned to look at her as she started to explain.

"Chat noir comes to visit me sometimes. So I know him a little better than the average citizen. We're really good friends." Marinette smiled.

Those words. Those three miserable words. Really good friends. He had used those to describe Marinette in the past, and regrettably, she used the same words about him. After this 'friend date' he would visit her as Chat noir and see how much he could get out of her about her feelings for either him or Adrien. Yeah. He could do that right? She could tell her 'really good friend' about her likes and dislikes in people.

The sun went down and Alya and Nino walked home together, leaving Adrien alone with Marinette who seemed extremely uneasy about his presence. Did she not like being around him? She seemed fine when it was all of them together. This bothered him. What if she didn't like either side of him?

They started to walk toward the bakery when they both noticed Adrien's bodyguard slowly following them. This made things a little more awkward and they both remained quiet on the walk to Marinette's until she finally spoke up.

"Your bodyguard must be waiting for you," Marinette said in a low whisper as if saddened.

"It's alright, he knows that I was walking you home, princ....uh... precisely why I asked him to give us some distance." Adrien nervously laughed, while Marinette looked at him a little confused but seemed to brush it off.

Adrien sighed a breath of relief as he barely managed to save himself from using the nickname Chat noir gave Marinette. Princess.

They reached the bakery sooner than Adrien would have liked and let out a soft sigh when they were standing outside her home.

"Thanks for the ice cream earlier." Marinette smiled.

"Anytime!...Marinette?" Adrien began, feeling his face begin to turn a light shade of pink once again.

"Yeah?"

"Do you... um... nevermind. Have a good night." Adrien faked a smile and watched as she disappeared into the bakery, as he mentally cursed himself for not asking for another date.