Song of Our Lives

Chapter 9: Your Words, Not Mine

"I feel bad," Marinette complained. "We just ditched Alya."

Adrien wrapped an arm around Marinette's waist. "We'll just pay her back with a bunch of interviews."

"That's probably not the best idea," Marinette warned. "Her interviews are intense."

Adrien raised an eyebrow.

"What goes through your mind after every akuma fight?" she mimicked. "How does your Lucky Charm work? What do you do when you're not Ladybug? What do you think of Chat Noir?"

"Ooh I'd like to know the answer to that last one," Adrien flirtatiously whispered in her ear. "What do you think of Chat Noir?"

Marinette bumped his shoulder. "Well for starters, I think he's just a little conceited." She laughed at Adrien's expression. "I'm kidding. He's very handsome, sweet, and clever... Even if he fishes for compliments a bit too much."

Adrien's face lit up. "Why thank you, my lady. You warm my heart." He pointed to a nearby restaurant. "Here we are."

"Hey this is the same restaurant my parents went to on their anniversary!" Marinette remembered. She turned to Adrien. "When Alix got akumatized."

"Oh that was some day," Adrien sighed. "I was getting pretty sure that you were Ladybug, until I saw you and Ladybug in the same place." He held the door open for her as she walked in.

"But then there were two Ladybugs," Marinette protested.

Adrien shrugged, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Guess it didn't really occur to me." His eyes widened at the huge line of people waiting. "Maybe we should go somewhere else..."

A lady in front of them whipped around and smiled kindly. "No, no please." She leaned out to a waiter. "Sir- it's Ladybug and Chat Noir. They'd like a seat?"

The waiter nodded, waving at Adrien and Marinette. "Right this way."

Marinette shook her head. "I'm sorry- we can't- what about everyone else?"

"Nonsense," the waiter told her. "For the heroes that save our city, it's the least we can do."

"Thank you," Marinette managed, staring at the floor.

Adrien chuckled. "Can we get your name, sir?"

"Mr. Freeman," the waiter answered, handing them two menus. "Any drinks?"

"Just water," Adrien answered, as Marinette nodded for the same. "Thank you, Mr. Freeman."

"My pleasure."

After he was out of earshot, Adrien burst into laughter. Marinette frowned. "What is it?"

"You're not very used to special treatment, are you?"

Marinette blushed. "Well, not everyone is a teenage model."

"And not everyone is the superhero of Paris," Adrien countered. "Relax- cutting line one time is no big deal."

"I don't know. Cutting line today, but what tomorrow?" she sighed. "This is one of the reasons I didn't want to reveal my identity."

Adrien opened his mouth in realization.

"I mean, it's one thing to get special treatment when wearing the costume- that I can handle. But what about in my civilian form? I just want to be able to walk around like a normal teenage girl without people asking for pictures or autographs every five seconds..." Her voice trailed off when she realized who she was talking to. Adrien's whole life had been like that. "I'm sorry-"

Adrien shook his head, a lump in his throat. "It's fine. I'm used to it by now." He smiled. "Anyway, I can kinda act like a normal teenager at school, you know? Besides Chloé, that is. And with you... Let's just say I'm very fur-tunate to know a girl like you."

Marinette laughed. "There's the Chat we all know and love."

"I know, I'm hiss-terical," Adrien began with a mischievous smirk. "I guess I'm just so claw-some and claw-ver to tail puns like that. It's a tail-ent really, but you've gotta help meow-t be-claws this can't go on fur-ever."

"No," Marinette groaned, putting her head in her hands. "Please stop. Those are awful."

"You mean I should paw-lease stop because they're paw-ful?"

"Adrien," she warned. "I will walk out of here right now if you make another pun."

Adrien grinned. "Aw, but you're my girl-fur-riend."

Marinette pushed her chair back and stood up.

"Okay, okay," Adrien managed with a laugh. "I'm sorry..."

Marinette sighed, sitting down.

"... Purrincess"

Marinette leaned back in her chair, resisting the urge to smack her boyfriend. "Why did I even agree to date you in the first place?"

"Because I'm very handsome, sweet, and clever," Adrien mimicked, grinning. "Your words, not mine."

Marinette's face burned. "One compliment... I give you one compliment."

"Aw don't regret it," Adrien consoled. "Here's a few for you- beautiful, strong, kind, talented, brave, smart, and so much more."

The red on Marinette's face darkened, if that was possible. She opened her mouth to reply, when the waiter returned. He handed them their glasses and pulled out a notepad.

"What else can I get for you today?"

They quickly relayed their orders and he wrote them down, briskly walking away.

"Thank you," Marinette managed, kissing Adrien's cheek. "I love you." Her eyes widened when she realized what she had said. "I'm sorry- I mean- uh-"

Adrien placed a hand over her's a wide smile on his face. "Don't be sorry, Marinette. I love you too."

Needless to say, the evening was pretty amazing.

A/N: Ahhh they said I love you... That's so cute. Also, for Adrien's puns, I found the greatest website of cat puns ever. It's amazing. Now my only problem is explaining why that's in my search history... XD