Harsh Goodbyes & Butterflies {LadyNoir/Adriette}

Chapter 14

Noir

I couldn't believe how stupid I was.

I was lying on my bed, yearbook open, cursing at myself. How had I never seen it before? Her hair, her eyes, her face shape - everything. They were identical twins in every way. There I was, staring down at the girl I had loved from the first day I'd seen her. And I had known her most of my life. I hadn't given her a second glance, ever - sure, she was cute, and it was nice that she had an interest in me, but I never even considered her. Gosh, what she must think of me now. It killed me.

In the past, I would've breezed by her photo without even looking. But I'd been staring at it for an hour now. My phone was out, and I had listlessly searched for everything I could find of her, but I'd only found a few blurry pictures of other people with her in the background. She was wearing the same thing she always did - her trademark black blazer and white shirt, hair in their usual pigtails. The same pigtails Ladybug always wore - how could I have been so blind all this time? Suddenly, though, I really saw her. Her eyes glimmered, her smile wider than I'd ever seen; she looked like an angel. An angel I had never even thought to recognize.

I closed the book in front of me and slammed my head on it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

My phone had been buzzing nonstop since the news had come out. Every one of our classmates was losing their mind; the amount of group chats I had been added into was horrifying. My phone had glitched at least fourteen times since the texts started to go through. But I didn't check a single one. All I could think about was her - the girl of my dreams, probably sitting in her room drawing or doing homework, peacefully in her own little world, completely oblivious to the chaos that was going on around her. Nino had told me that she didn't know about the discovery. I found it incredibly hard to believe at first, but he had convinced me; both he and Alya explained that they had first accused her of her secret straight-out, but then lightened as they realized she simply would not give in. Alya had gone on and on about the times she had hinted about Ladybug's double identity to her best friend, so she was completely confident that the girl thought really nothing of it.

So now, here I was, alone in my room, obsessing over a girl I should've gotten to know a long time ago. Sure, she was shy and nervous at school, but why wouldn't she be? She had to be just like me - wishing that she could be something more, which was ultimately how kwamis came to reside in people. There was no doubt in my mind at first that she had wished to be more confident; but now, now that I sat her and thought, I wasn't so sure. She had been surprisingly successful in managing the play we had been doing a while back; she'd stood up to Chloe and settled issues without hesitation.

"Plagg?"

There was no answer, so I balled up a piece of paper on my bed and threw it as hard as I could in the direction of his sleeping area.

A small groan sounded , and then an exasperated voice. "What, Adrien?"

I tapped the pencil in my hand on my chin. "Can kwamis affect their hosts even out of transformation?"

"Yes. Now let me sleep."

"Well, that explains it," I muttered. I turned and kicked my feet over the bed, standing up half-heartedly. I walked to the mirror and found myself staring critically, adjusting my hair and clothes and generally trying to get a sense of the most attractive angle I had. After a few moments, I groaned and turned on my heel once more, crashing right back onto my bed.

"Plagg?"

"What?! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Check the time, will you?"