True Love Kiss

9 - Something has changed

On Monday Marinette went to school in a great mood. She was very pleased with herself, because after whole Saturday spent with Adrien on the chemistry presentation she proved to herself that she finally managed to regain control over her own person. Not only she was able to behave quite normally in front of Adrien – not counting a little false start with the waffles... – she even managed to impress him.

"Why you're so happy?" Alya greeted her, looking at her suspiciously. "Have you prepared so well to the test?"

"Wh-What test?" Marinette's smile faded.

"Physics. Today we have a test, remember?"

"I totally forgot about that..." Marinette moaned.

"So, you have a problem, girl..." Alya replied.

"Between two evils I choose missing the French Literature classes than another failure at Mme Mendeleiev's lesson. Cover up for me, OK?"

"As always..." Alya sighed and rolled her eyes. A little more, and Marinette will have more absence from classes than presence on them.

"You're the best!" Marinette hugged her friend and rushed to the library. She had an hour for a quick revision – just to pass the test.

"Oh, excuse me!" exclaimed someone, who she collided with at the door of the library.

Adrien.

For the second time in the last few days she ran into him. She rubbed her forehead and looked at him distracted.

"What are you doing here?" they both asked at the same time and looked at each other in amazement. After a moment they both laughed.

"I forgot about the physics test." Marinette confessed.

"Me too." Adrien said.

"I've been already noticed by professor Mendeleiev. I can't make it worse."

"If you would like, we can do the revision together." Adrien suggested and opened the door to the library before Marinette.

"Sure, why not?" she smiled at him with a relief and went inside.

How much easier it was to talk to him now when she didn't stutter nervously every word! He'd been showing her so much sympathy, and she could finally return with the same, without making a complete idiot of herself.

If someone had told her a week ago that she and Adrien would be studying before the test, she would probably be shocked or start to squeal with joy. Now – well, except that she had a great time – it was quite a natural thing for her. They helped each other, as real friends.

Oh, that was all Cat Noir's fault. Cat Noir's and his true love kisses...

She didn't even realise that she'd sighed loudly again. Adrien glanced at her and smiled somehow amused, and green sparks emerged in his eyes.

"You often sigh lately..." he muttered.

She blushed. It turned out that Cat Noir's magical kisses didn't completely erase all the warm feelings that she had had for Adrien. Or maybe it was something in his eyes that caused this blush?

"Really?" she pretended being surprised.

"Am I wrong, or you got into trouble thanks to such a sigh?" he was still smiling.

"Oh, I think so..." she murmured.

"It's about the Valentine's Day?" He asked, leaving the revision for good.

"Yeah... I think so..." she repeated quietly, and the blush on her face deepened.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy." he withdrew immediately and blushed himself. As if he felt that he was too close to cross the invisible line, which he definitely shouldn't cross.

"It's OK. You're not nosy." she answered easily. "It's just... It was a little unexpected Valentine's Day."

"Unexpected?" he spotted.

"Someone..." she hesitated, but after a moment she began to speak. And when she started, she couldn't stop: "Someone confessed to me that he loves me. Someone I didn't suspect at all. I mean, maybe I suspected a little. A very little. But I didn't think it was serious. And then it turned out..." she stopped suddenly, terrified that she said so much. It was so close to tell Adrien that these feelings were reciprocated.

Adrien also fell silent somehow. He stared at Marinette, amazed at what she had said, as well as concerned with the strange reaction somewhere inside himself. He felt like someone had kicked him in the stomach. But why?

***

The quick revision of physics could be classified as moderately successful. Marinette and Adrien just looked through the notes, discussed the main points and, as far as it was possible they were prepared somehow for the test. But this unfinished conversation about the Valentine's Day was brewing between them like a great understatement.

Marinette didn't even realise that they didn't say a word to each other all the way to the classroom. For a moment she wondered if Adrien felt uncomfortable about her detailed story about someone confessing his love to her on Valentine's Day. But he was the one, who asked! It suddenly occurred to her that he could ask tentatively. He had already been courteous a few times before. And she told unnecessarily the tale of the intimate details of her life!

She sighed heavily and realised it immediately. Maybe if he hadn't paid attention to it in the library, her sighs would remain unnoticed for her. Ever since he told her that she sighed so often, she became particularly sensitive to this point.

"You don't know what to do with him?" Adrien asked quietly, glancing at her sideways.

"With whom?" she asked, confused.

"With that someone who confessed to you."

"Actually, I have no problem with it." she answered honestly. "I'm only a bit surprised. I still don't get it. Probably that's why I sigh so much." She smiled apologetically. "I don't understand it, you know." She sighed again, and again – without warning – she started talking and couldn't stop: "It seemed to me that I wasn't interested in him. I mean, he was important to me as a friend, but ... you know... not in a romantic way. And he... I don't know what's happening to me. I behave completely irrationally with him now. He talks to me in one moment, and kisses me in another, and I..." She stopped for a moment and unconsciously raised her hands.

"Oh..." escaped from Adrien, then he looked at her carefully.

"I don't know why I'm telling you all this." she confessed finally, embarrassed. "Just forget about that."

"Don't worry, Marinette. I'm OK." he said quietly and opened the door to the classroom.

She went in and sat down next to Alya. Adrien stayed at the door for a moment and tried to collect his thoughts. This whole story, those impressions she'd shared just a moment ago awakened so many feelings in himself. He couldn't name all of them. The strange feeling in the stomach that he had already felt in the library woke up again. Especially when she said about kisses. But there was also anxiety and one more feeling – warmth in the heart area. Because when Marinette talked about that someone who kissed her she made this slight gesture, as if her hands were unconsciously wanting to reach up. And that reminded him Ladybug who embraced his neck every time he kissed her...