Whiskers on Kittens -- (ML)

[3]

Adrien took a deep breath before looking back at his best friend.

'W-what do you mean?' He stuttered out. Nino raised an eyebrow as the trio began to walk into the classroom, taking their usual seats.

'You know what I mean. You're acting odd this morning.'

'Am I?' Adrien was vaguely aware of Alya putting away her phone, full attention on him. 'I, ah, hadn't noticed.'

'Adrien, dude.' Nino held up a hand, other posed over his heart. 'We're bros. I can tell when you're hiding something from me.'

'I'm not hiding anything.' he said hastily, head ducking back behind is books.

'Uh huh, sure.' Alya leaned over him skeptically, resting her chin in her hand. 

'I'm not!' Adrien insisted.

'Then drop the scarf.'

He hesitated.

'Drop it.'

'Dude, it can't be that bad.'

'I got an- umm- really really embarrassing tan line.' Adrien fumbled.

Both Alya and Nino burst out laughing. 'What?' he said flatly, glancing between the two.

'Hold- hold on.' Alya gasped out between chuckles. 'I just- I need to- I can't comprehend it! Adrien freaking Agreste has a bad tan line?'

Nino shook his head, grinning. 'There's no way your old man would allow that!'

'C-come on, guys! You're meant to support me in this!' Adrien could feel the back of his neck heating up, spreading up to his (whiskered) cheeks. He ducked behind his books again, pouting slightly.

'Sorry, Adrien, it's just- just so- funny!' Alya was still laughing, hand moving to wipe a tear from her eye.

'Just tell us the real reason.'

'I umm . . . have a YouTube channel?' He winced at the words, knowing that his friends would never buy that excuse.

Alya made a noise, imitating a quiz show buzzer. 'Try again!'

'Makeup from modelling?'

'You've never hidden it before, dude. Why start now?' Nino shrugged.

'B-because this one is awful!' He insisted.

'Make-up wipes are a thing!' Alya imitated his tone, poking the back of his head. He internally groaned. 

'Uuuuhhhh . . .' he was running out of excuses now, grasping at straws. 'hickey?'

The two of them burst out laughing again, and Adrien found himself turning red again. 'Yeah, that one was pathetic.' he muttered, once again bringing his books up to hide behind.

It was at that moment that several things happened. 

One: Marinette skidded into the classroom. This was odd, seeing as though she was later than everyone else, it was still before the bell. Marinette was early.

Two: She fell over. Nothing out of the ordinary about that, but-

Three: She flailed with her arms as she fell, managing to hit Adrien's books on the way down.

Four: The books flew to the floor, leaving Adrien without his secondary defences.

Five: His scarf fell down around his neck.

'Sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-' Marinette mumbled, picking up the scattered books to hand back to Adrien. 'I just--' 

The sound of books slamming to the floor again filled the classroom, a hush from students' conversations. 'A-a-a-a-adrien!' Marinette stammered, staring up at the boy from her kneeling position in front of his desk. He was fully aware of all eyes in the classroom being on him- most of them thankfully not being able to see his face.

Alya, Nino and Marinette, however . . .

Alya groaned quietly to herself. 'How did I not see it?'

'Uuuh, Hi, Mari?' Adrien managed, waving. She didn't see it, eyes locked on his face. 'Are you okay?'

'P-peachy- yeah, I'm fine!' she squeaked out.

'Sure?'

'Sure I'm sure! Never been better!' she still retained her high-pitched voice, frozen to her place.

'Marinette?' Nino asked.

'Ye-ahh?' She blinked, attention diverted to Nino, though Adrien noticed she was getting increasingly pale.

'You seem a bit . . . out of it today.' He continued, looking concerned for his friend's well-being.

'I'm fine, I'm fine.' She said, slowly getting to her feet. She was now pointedly avoiding Adrien's eye contact, and he realised why.

Fumbling with his scarf, Adrien tried his best to hide the marker lines to no avail. 'So . . . aahh . . .'

'Can we-' she broke off, taking a shaky breath 'Can we- we speak outside for a minute, Adrien?'

'Uh, sure.' He replied, standing up and following the shorter girl outside into the hall, being careful not to step on any of the books.

Outside, Marinette was silent, hands gripping the sleeves of her jacket. She chewed her bottom lip, still avoiding eye contact with Adrien.

'Mari?' Adrien tried, letting go of the scarf to reveal the lines. There was no use hiding them when she already knew, right? He reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder, but she batted it away.

'Don't.'

'Marinette I--'

'I said don't!' She cried, whirling around to face him. 'It's so damn obvious, isn't it?'

'I--'

'Isn't it?!'

'I don't think I'm following. . .' He said carefully, trying to skirt the topic.

'You're Chat Noir!' Marinette said, and he flinched away slightly.

Adrien should have known by now that no excuse could salvage this- the secret was out. He tried anyway 'Just because the Ladyblog has--' 

'And, ooh, dear sweet Marinette never noticed!' she continued, interrupting like he wasn't even there 'He sits directly in front of her, and she never noticed!'

'They're just whiskers, it's not as if--'

'Ladybug's an idiot.' She lowered her voice suddenly, barely speaking above a whisper. 'She put him- you- in danger.'

'Mari, I don't think it's that bad, is it?'

'That's the thing!' she raised her voice again, pointing her finger at him, right in his face. 'If it wasn't for those dumb questions, none of this would have--'

Adrien moved before he could think, hand clapping over her mouth. 'How do you know about the questions?' he hissed, eyes narrowing.

Marinette paused, drawing back from Adrien. 'I. . .'

'Marinette? What do you know?'

She shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes.

'How do you kno--'

'Chat! Why don't you realise it already?!' Marinette shouted, stomping her foot childishly. Her tone of voice made Adrien stop for a moment, dawning realization hitting him.

Chat! Even the inflection was exactly the same.

'My Lady?' He blurted out before he could stop himself. She nodded slowly.

'It's me, Chat.' She whispered, finally meeting his gaze. 'It's me.'