Blushing Miraculous

The Concert

The next evening after dinner Adrien snuck out again. But he wasn't going to Marinette's. This time he was sneaking out to go to the concert. After all, he told the band he would be there. More importantly, Marinette had spent so much time making his costume. There was no way that he was going to disappoint her by not showing up.

He arrived a couple of minutes before six o'clock and found the rest of the band backstage. They were already dressed so Adrien hurried to put on his costume.

Kitty Section was second on the concert line-up so they only had to wait about twenty minutes before they went on stage.

Adrien quickly scanned the crowd as he got into place behind the keyboard. The bright lights made it difficult to see but he was able to spot the beautiful blunette. She was in the third row sitting next to Alya. Nino, Mylene, and Alix were also there.

He gave her a huge smile when he made eye contact with her. She responded by smiling back and giving him a thumbs up.

The audience gave a loud round of applause as the band started playing.

In the middle of the third song Adrien saw Marinette stand up and leave the seating area. He watched for her to come back, but she never returned.

When their set was over, he quickly took off his costume and made his way to the audience. He took the seat that Marinette was originally in. "Hey," he said to Alya.

"Hey Adrien, fantastic job up there," she said back.

"Thanks. I could have sworn that I saw Marinette here earlier," he said, trying to act nonchalant.

"Yeah, she was here but she had to leave," the redhead replied.

"Oh, that's too bad," he said turning his attention to the stage. After a minute he turned back to Alya. "She didn't happen to say why she had to leave, did she?"

Alya turned to fully face him and raised her eyebrows. "She just said that she had a prior commitment."

"Oh okay," he said, frowning. Where could she possibly have gone? Most of her friends were here. And she usually didn't go out at night. She was usually at home in her room waiting for...

Adrien felt his stomach twist. She was usually waiting for Chat Noir, for him. Was that why she had to leave early? To get back home for him? Maybe, maybe not. But he wouldn't keep her waiting if she was.

"I'm going to head out too, my father doesn't want me out too late," he said to Alya.

"Uh huh," she murmured, unconvinced.

Adrien left the crowd and jogged down the street until he found a darkened alleyway. "Plagg, claws out!" he said, transforming. Chat Noir pulled out his baton and took off for Marinette's house.

As he got close he saw that her lights were on. He landed with a thump on the roof and jumped down to the balcony. He thought he was going to cry when he heard the hatch open.

"Chat Noir!" Marinette exclaimed. "I was worried that I wouldn't see you tonight. I thought that maybe you came by earlier and I wasn't home yet."

"I'm so sorry that I'm late Princess," he said, climbing inside. He wrapped her up with a big hug. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," she replied. After a minute she leaned back from the hug. "Now come on, these madeleines aren't going to eat themselves!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him down the steps.

"So how did the rehearsal go last night?" Chat Noir asked once they each got a pastry.

"It was a long day, but it went well. And the concert was great, I got back home right before you arrived."

"How many bands were there?" he asked.

"Well, I only saw the first two so I'm not sure how many were there all together," she told him.

"I hope you didn't leave early just to see me."

"That might have been the reason," she admitted with a sly smile. "But I don't mind. I couldn't leave my hungry stray to fend for himself yet again, now could I?" she teased.

Chat Noir gazed at her. She had called him 'hers.' He wanted to lean in and kiss her right then. "What would I ever do without you Princess?"

Marinette chuckled. "I don't know, probably have to buy your own treats."

He laughed. "Anything but that!" he said dramatically.

She laughed again. "Alright, so what do you want to do tonight?" she asked him as she finished her madeleine.

There were several things that Chat Noir wanted to do with Marinette, but nothing that he could say outloud. Ugh, why did he have to wait to ask her out? He was getting super impatient.

"If it's okay with you, I'd really like to just lie down and talk. You can tell me all about the costumes that you made for the band."

"That sounds wonderful," she said smiling. "I'll go change."

Chat Noir went up to her bed while she changed. He lay down in his spot and looked at the collage of pictures on the wall. It had been a while since he had really paid attention to them. They were different. There used to be a good amount of pictures of Adrien hanging up, but those were gone. In fact, it took him a full minute to find himself at all. He was only in one group shot.

Now over the last couple of weeks, he had noticed that the pictures of Adrien on the wall around her desk had disappeared. It made sense, why keep pictures of the person who broke your heart on your wall? Although he understood it, it still made him upset.

"Lights on or off?" Marinette called to him when she came out of the bathroom.

"Off is fine," he replied.

She switched off the lights and joined him.

They talked for hours. There was no school the next day so neither of them felt like going to sleep. In the early morning hours they finally closed their eyes. But Chat Noir still didn't want to sleep.

"Marinette?" he whispered, peeking over at her.

She didn't respond.

He reached over and brushed the hair away from her face. She stirred slightly and turned to her other side. Moving closer, he wrapped his arm around her and nuzzled his face into her hair. If there was anything better than this moment, Chat Noir didn't know it.