True Love?

Chapter 9

Ladybug and Cat Noir defeat the Akumatized person rather quickly. They raced back towards the school before Cat Noir stopped Ladybug.

"Ladybug, wait!" he called desperately. Ladybug stopped on a roof near the school and faced him. She looked at him annoyed. "What happened? Was it something I said?" Ladybug sighs and shakes her head.

"No, Kitty," she replies. "It's nothing." Cat Noir frowns.

"Obviously it's something," he retorts. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be annoyed with me." Ladybug looks at Cat with a playful smirk. Right as she is about to respond, her earrings beep. She instinctively brings her hand to her ear.

"Can it wait until after school?" she asks. "I'm about to transform back and I'd rather not have the world knowing who I am. This conversation is important though, so I promise that I won't forget." Cat Noir sighs and nods.

"Just," he starts. "Please tell me if it is me or something else." Ladybug swings her yoyo and grabs onto a tower near the school building.

"Its something else, Kitty," she says. Ladybug then pulls on her yoyo and flies off towards the school. Cat Noir follows behind vaulting with his stick. They make it into the locker room and detransform just in time. Marinette feeds Tikki a cookie as she hides in Marinette's purse. Adrien hands Plagg his cheese before he dives into Adrien's pocket. Marinette signals for Adrien to go out first and she follows not too far behind. Inwardly groaning, they both sit at their seats in class and wait for the day to be over.

**Time Skip**

The final bell rings, signaling the end of the day. Adrien is antsy as he waits for Marinette. He catches sight of her talking with Alya as they walk towards the doors. He walks to the bottom of the stairs and leans against the railing closest to the direction that he knows Marinette will go to go home. Female voices get louder as Alya and Marinette get closer. He resists the urge to turn around.

"Bye, Alya!" Marinette says to her best friend. "Good luck on your project!" She gently touches Adrien's shoulder to let him know that she is there. "You ready?" she asks him quietly. He nods and they walk towards the bakery. They reach the doors and Adrien opens the door for Marinette to enter first. She giggles and heads inside. He follows her. She greets her parents and explains that she has a project to work on with Adrien. Grabbing his hand they head upstairs to her room. Once they reach her room they set their school stuff down and set up their work areas on Marinette's desk. Plagg and Tikki zip out of hiding and head up to Tikki's little area by Marinette's bed leaving their owners to figure out things. Setting up the last of their work station stuff, Adrien looks at Marinette to find she's already looking at him. She pulls him into a hug with tears building in her eyes. He hugs her back confused.

"What's wrong, Princess?" he asks softly. She pulls away slightly and wipes her eyes.

"This time, it really is nothing," she says with a giggle. "I'm just really sorry that I hurt you earlier by glaring at you. Alya said some things that really got to me and then we had to deal with the Akuma attack." She sighs and backs away from him, looking at the floor. "I thought things that I know now are completely false. I'm so sorry." Adrien takes in what she said and lifts her chin with his hand. He pulls her close again and presses his lips to hers gently as if to reassure her that she didn't hurt him. They pull apart and he hugs her again.

"You didn't hurt me, Princess," he says. She relaxes into him at his words. "I am curious though. What happened between you and Alya this morning? She seems really angry."

"She was," Marinette tells him. "She was angry because she thought something happened between us that I didn't tell her about but then she realized that I haven't really been able to talk to you too well and then after not really noticing me as anything more than a friend, you suddenly are beside me kissing me as if it was a normal thing to do. She just assumed that it was a prank or a dare or something like that. That's when she looked over at Nino to see if he was getting anything out of you. I met your eyes and mouthed prank so you knew to just play along. This way we could give ourselves more time to figure out where to go from there. We, ah, really didn't think everything through." She sits at her desk and starts pulling fabric from a bag as she talks. Adrien does the same and they get to work on their costumes as she continues to explain what happened. "When Alya turns back to me she just glared at me until you guys came over. Then during class, she kept hissing at me about why I wasn't paying attention like normal and why I wasn't even focused on you like I normally am when I zone out. I tried to tell her that I was just thinking about the project but she cut me off and was upset that she had to learn about you being my partner from Nino. I just gave up from there. She'll cool off tonight and it will be like nothing happened tomorrow but still."

"Sound's like you had a rough day with all this," Adrien says after she finishes. "I honestly didn't think Alya would react like she did or I would have tried harder to act normal. You are right that we didn't think it through first. We have to have some sort of plan in place so people don't get too suspicious." She nods and finishes up the first part of her costume. He finishes the first part of his costume, a little after her. They concede to take a quick break to get food. Adrien calls Nathalie to ask to stay over for dinner. Surprisingly she says yes. They grab some snacks and head back upstairs. Marinette brings a plate of camembert and chocolate chip cookies for the kwamis and Adrien brings up a tray of treats for the two of them. They sit in comfortable silence as they eat. Eventually, they get back to work and both nearly finish their costumes. Adrien soon has to leave so she walks him out to his car. They hug briefly and promise to meet up later that night for patrol to discuss a plan for their relationship.