That Night

Chapter 13

After school that day Adrien heard Marinette calling out to him. He brightened and stood up straighter as he turned to look at her running towards him.

Marinette paused, panting from her run to catch up with him. "Adrien..." she breathed hard.

"Yes," he asked.

"I have to tell you something." She took one last big breath then straightened. Adrien nodded and she continued. "I think I made a mistake."

Adrien tilted his head in question.

"I thought I had already told you about my appointment and finding out the gender of my baby," she put a hand on her stomach. "But I realized that I never did." Her lip started quivering. "And I'm really sorry. You're one of my best friends and I wanted you to be one of the first that I told, but I guess I thought about it so much that my brain thought that it was already done." She looked at him with sad eyes that were shining with tears and repeated one more time, "I'm really sorry."

"It's ok." Adrien looked at her softly and pulled her into a hug. He just held onto her for several moments, before reluctantly letting her go. "Don't worry about it, ok?" She nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow." He gave her one more quick hug before they went their separate ways, both of them grinning their own unnaturally wide grin.

- - -

The next weeks passed as usual for Marinette, but for Adrien they went by agonizingly slow, filled with confusing thoughts about Ladybug and her boy, and Marinette and hers, but never connecting the two together.

Every chance Adrien got where he could stare at Marinette inconspicuously, he took the chance. He had begun to notice things about her that he hadn't ever seen before. Her cute pigtails really framed her face and showcased her simple beauty. She was such a wonderful designer, she would fit right in at his father's design company. Add to all this the pure joy and the brilliant smile that was always on her face. She always put herself out so that she could help others, no matter the cost. She was truly beautiful inside and out and he didn't know how he had never noticed it before.

One day during a much-needed break between school and modeling Adrien took the opportunity to just sit in his room and talk things out with Plagg.

"I can't keep denying it Plagg..."

Plagg quickly swallowed a huge piece of camembert and looked at his holder with bored eyes. "Can't keep denying what, kid?"

"I like her," he shrugged in admittance.

"Who?" He widened his eyes in question.

"Marinette." Adrien practically sighed her name.

Plagg's little arms dropped. His holder was actually recognizing that he had feelings for the girl that he was his partner outside of the mask and who was holding his child. "Really?" Plagg realized that he sounded too excited, so he cleared his throat and asked it again with more composure, "really?"

"Yah," he said softly. "I don't know how I never noticed her beauty and her wonderful qualities. I always said that she was just a friend, and yah, she is a good friend, but she is so much more than that." He held out his arms in a frustrated shrug. "Now, all I ever want to do if find ways to spend time with her or at least be able to see her constantly.

"But how can I feel this way when I love Ladybug and little Louis with everything I have?" He groaned. "I, well Chat, made a baby with Ladybug, and I want that baby, but I can't stop thinking about Marinette."

Plagg knew that all this confusion was pointless, as Marinette was Ladybug and Ladybug's baby was Adrien's as well as Chat Noir's... That even that sounded confusing to him once his thought it through like that. But still Plagg just wanted to shake his holder and tell him that his Lady and his Princess were the same person and that he should just ask Marinette out, but he knew that Adrien would get hung up on Ladybug, but maybe if Plagg worded the request differently...

"Well kid," he tilted his head expectantly, "I think you need to take action."

Adrien squinted. "What kind of action?" He had no idea what Plagg was getting at.

Plagg gave a cheeky grin and said, "spend time with her, get to know her better. There's nothing wrong with being friends with another woman, even Ladybug would agree.

Adrien's face relaxed. "That's a good idea. I'll ask her to hang out." He sat down in his office chair and rolled to his computer screens. He had to think of the perfect idea for their time together, he couldn't disappoint Marinette.

Plagg hid a smile. He could tell just how much Adrien liked Marinette by how determined he was to make their time perfect. Adrien was turning it into a date just as Plagg had hoped. Now he just had to hope that they would discover each other's identities, so that everything could run smoothly from here on out. He would never admit it, but Plagg was a romantic at heart.

But many minutes later Adrien hadn't come up with any ideas that he felt were good enough. He slumped in his chair and moaned to his kwami, "what do I? What should I ask Marinette to do with me?"

"Kid," he waited for him to look up. "It doesn't have to be anything big. Just ask her to a movie or invite to come over and play video games with you. She would love that." Plagg knew that Marinette had had a crush on Adrien for forever. He also knew that Marinette would be excited even if Adrien invited her to come over and help clean toilets.

Plagg chuckled to himself, laughing at his own joke, but Adrien didn't hear as he was still thinking about Marinette. "Perfect," he muttered, "I'll ask her if she wants to come over and play Ultimate Mecha Strike III." He gave a succinct nod and began speaking under his breath planning what exactly he would say to her.

Adrien spent so much time that night rehearsing what he would say and thinking of all the possible situations that might come up and how he would handle them that he felt that he was ready and wouldn't be able to go much longer without asking Marinette out... he corrected himself, he would just be asking her to play Ultimate Mecha Strike with him, and he would be ready for anything, even if an akuma came - though he sure hoped that an attack wouldn't ruin his time with one of the people closest to him.