Secret Admirer

Chapter 5: The Mailman

"Marinette." Chat whispered. "Marinette wake up." Chat Noir stood in front of the chaise in Marinette's room. Marinette was fast asleep. He smiled. She looked so peaceful.

Marinette felt Tikki poking her side through her purse and her eyes shot open. "What?" Marinette rubbed her eyes. "What are you doing here, Chat Noir, and why do you have a bag?" She stretched, looking him up and down. He had a giant crossbody bag around him.

"I'm a mailman. Specifically your mailman." Chat smiled, holding the strap.

"Oh my gosh." Marinette rubbed her face, and fell back on her pillow. "I'm going back to my nap."

"No, wait." He grabbed her hand and pulled her up to face him. "I have something to show you." He beamed, his breathe fanning her face.

Marinette smiled. "What is it?"

"Come with me." Chat held her hand tighter and led her up to the balcony. He stopped at the window and turned around. "Close your eyes."

Marinette rolled her eyes before closing them. Chat went through the trap door before reaching down to pull Marinette up with him. He grabbed her hand again and held it, staring with a smile. She still had her eyes closed, so she couldn't see how happy he was. He liked the feeling of their hands together. He didn't want to let go, but he had to play it cool. She's supposed to be going for Adrien.

"Okay, you can open your eyes." Chat announced.

Marinette blinked her eyes open. She moved her hand away from his, leaving him feeling cold. "A mailbox?" She put a fist under her chin in thought. There was a shiny, black mailbox that was bolted to the balcony railing. "Why?"

"Well . . . since you didn't like my chat signal idea, I came up with something different." Chat walked over to it. "So now when you want to 'mail' a letter to Adrien, you just have to put it in this mailbox and flip the little red thing up. Then whenever I pass by, I'll know when there's a letter. And the same goes for when you receive one. I'll put it in here. It'll be easier."

"You put so much effort into this." Marinette laughed. "Are you gonna make laps around Paris until I flip that red thing up?"

"No." Chat blushed, crossing his arms.

"You totally are." Marinette snickered.

"Well I gotta go." Chat grabbed his baton. "I have to be somewhere in an hour."

"See you later, Mr. Mailman." Marinette waved before walking back to her room.

Chat Noir smiled as he watched her leave. Marinette stopped at the trap door and turned around, but he was already gone. She felt something. She didn't know what it was, but it was something warm, something new.

. . .

Later That Day:

"Dear Diary,

              It's been two weeks since me and Adrien began writing letters to each other. It's been absolutely fantastic, like a dream come true. Adrien has called me pretty, talked about his hobbies, even though I already knew most of them, and I think he's actually starting to like me. I never thought Adrien would feel this way about me. Thankfully, Chat Noir was there whenever I tried to give Adrien the first letter. Without him, I probably wouldn't haven't gotten this far. Any other time I just stuttered and rambled whenever I tried to talk to Adrien. I couldn't form a single coherent sentence and just ended up embarrassing myself instead. But on the other hand, it's really weird that Chat Noir would do all of this. Why me? And even weirder, he's flirting with me. I'm used to it as Ladybug, but when I'm Marinette, it's another situation. He knows I like Adrien and he is basically setting us up together. He is helping me and Adrien send love letters to each other, so why flirt? It doesn't make sense. Unless, Chat Noir is actually writing these letters. What if he is? He does oddly know a lot of details from them. Chat Noir said him and Adrien were best friends, but even then, he remembers my letters like he wrote them. During many of the days he's visited, he asks me about the letters. He recalls certain sentences and grills me on what I thought. Even though I've learned a lot about who I'm writing to, I feel like I don't know them at all. Am I actually writing to Adrien? He never seemed interested when we were in school and he accepted me rather quickly. It makes me wonder who's on the other side of these messages.

- Marinette"

. . .

Adrien laid spread out on a building across from Marinette's bakery, wearing his black and green hoodie and holding a sealed envelope to his chest. His Chinese lessons were over an hour and ten minutes ago and as soon as they were over, he started writing another letter. He wrote it and ran all the way to the bakery, but stopped a building away and detransformed.

Plagg flew in front of Adrien's face. "Oh, somebody's in love."

"No, Plagg. Marinette's just a-" Adrien opened his eyes. He couldn't finish his sentence. "I don't know."

"You love her." Plagg teased. "You should put a wheel of camembert in her mailbox next time to show your appreciation."

"I don't want her to hate me." Adrien smiled. "And I think she actually likes me."

"Well duh. You're not the bad guy. You're not Hawkmoth." Plagg said. "The only reason she wouldn't like you is because of your lack of good taste in cheese."

"But she likes me for me, Plagg." Adrien sighed. "I may not be a bad guy, but she actually knows me and that's what's important. Everyone else just sees me as a model. They can't see past my fame enough to understand that I'm just like them, yet Marinette did. Marinette sees me differently."

"Well you're only going to confuse her if you keep flirting with her as Chat Noir."

"Can you believe it's already been fifteen days, Plagg?" Adrien ignored. "Me and Marinette have sent letters to each other for fifteen days now."

Plagg shook his head, knowing the boy wasn't paying attention. He just hoped Adrien wouldn't completely blow it with Marinette. "Well you are the guy she likes. Even before all of this." Plagg replied. "You're her secret admirer."

"Technically, Chat Noir is her secret admirer." Adrien corrected.

"Which is you."

"Come on, Plagg. I gotta deliver this letter." Adrien said, standing up as he pulled out another envelope. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

. . .

Marinette peeked her head through her trap door. She smiled. She had mail. Marinette pulled herself up and walked over to the mailbox. She opened the side and took out the letter.

"Already?" Tikki asked, flying over to her.

"I guess so, Tikki." Marinette flipped it over and began to open it.