In Love with a Black-Leathered Criminal {COMPLETED}

Part 9

Marinette hurried to the restaurant, excited to finally be together with her friends. Ever since Chat Noir had become a wanted criminal, Rena Rouge, Carapace and Viperion had dealt with different sorts of crimes, mostly minor ones, like street fights or public intoxication. Though Alya, Nino, Adrien nor Luka didn't know that Marinette was Ladybug, she still looked forward to their rare meet-ups. Adrien and Marinette had taken a break from work to spend an evening with their high school friends.

"Hey! There's the business partners!" Nino exclaimed as Adrien and Marinette stepped out of the Agreste car. Adrien frowned in his head, seeing Luka would be joining them. It wasn't like Adrien hated Luka but, Luka still liked Marinette, and he knew that she was single.

"Hey, guys!" Marinette said happily.

"I love your dress," Alya commented. The black off the shoulder dress encased her body, reminding Adrien of her Ladybug costume.

"Thanks," Marinette smiled as they entered the restaurant. They sat at the table, looking at the menus, but Adrien was too focused on Marinette, how patient she was when Alya would ramble on and on about her job, how she always had a pleasant smile on her face, how understanding she was when the waiter got her order wrong. She was amazing in every way. Later, after long conversations about what each person was doing with their life, They were almost done with dinner, all they needed was the cheque and Adrien could stop worrying about Luka asking if she was available. Adrien knew that Marinette wasn't property to him, but his mind screamed,

"Mine, mine, mine," Whenever Luka talked to her or even when he so much as smiled at her.

"Hey Marinette, are you free anytime soon?" The dreadful question was drowned out by Alya and Nino's conversation, but Adrien could hear everything. He kept an open ear, hopeful she would decline him. Her and Chat weren't official yet, so she was still technically available.

"Yeah, I'm usually free on the weekends,"

"Do you think you and I could go out for dinner sometime soon? If it's okay with you,"

"I'm sorry, but I already have a boyfriend," Marinette politely declined. Luka nodded, understandably and wished her relationship the best.

"Marinette! You have a boyfriend?" Alya practically slammed her hands down on the table, which took Marinette back for a moment.

"Yeah?" Marinette's mind quickly searched for an excuse. She couldn't tell her boss, and best friends that she was dating someone who is on a most-wanted list in 3 different cities.

"So, who is this guy?" Alya nagged.

"Well..." She paused, her eyes looking everywhere around the room except for Alya's eye line. Her answer was stopped short by the waiter placing a cheque on the table. Marinette sighed in relief, thankful she had more time to think about her answer. Alya dropped the subject, and soon, Adrien and Marinette were in his car once again, driving back to Marinette's apartment building. As Adrien drove down the street, he watched the streetlights come into view, then leave as he drove past them. The street was almost empty, except for the occasional late-night driver.

"Thanks for driving me Adrien," Marinette thanked, her smile standing out to him. She was glad that her and Adrien could still maintain a friendship outside of a work relationship.

"No problem," He glanced over, seeing her lean her head against the window. "Is something wrong Marinette?"

"It's nothing," She sighed.

"You can talk to me, as a friend, not just as a boss," He took his eyes off the road for a brief moment before returning them back. Marinette sat up, ready to explain.

"There is this guy, who I really like and we have been seeing each other for a while now,"

"Who is it? If you don't mind,"

"I probably shouldn't tell you,"

"Marinette..." He trailed, prodded for a response.

"Okay, but you can't tell anyone," She let out a deep breath. "It's Chat Noir," Adrien stayed calm, knowing that if he pretended to freak out, she would freak out too.

"Okay..." His voice trailed, narrowing his eyes.

"And we kissed, but all he does is flirt but he really cares about me,"

"Okay, but what's the problem?" He stopped at a red light before sitting back in the driver's seat.

"The problem is that he flirts with everyone!" Marinette explained. "So I don't know if he only kissed me in the heat of the moment or..." She trailed off.

"Is that what she thinks of me? Is that what everyone thinks of me?" Adrien thought, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Have you seen him flirt with anyone else?" Adrien said.

"No, but he only really comes to see me, I haven't seen him do the same with anyone else," Marinette explained. "Should I just ask him? Or would that make it awkward?"

"No, I don't think it would. Your just asking an honest question about your relationship,
nothing wrong with that," Adrien was setting the moment for his future self, not too far into the future though.

"Really?" Marinette looked to him with amazement in her eyes. He was excellent at giving advice, whenever she asked for it.

"Marinette, any guy would be lucky to be with you," His hand moved to her thigh on its own, only for him to quickly move it away. "S-sorry," He apologized quickly, before continuing to drive as the light changed to green.

"I-it's okay," She saw a slight familiarity in the way he smiled at her, the way it was so sincere, it reminded her of the smile that Chat had given her the morning after their kiss.

~Time Skip~

"Kid, when are you going to tell her?" Plagg growled as he watched Marinette enter her apartment building.

"I'm almost 23, I wish you would stop calling me kid," Adrien complained, ignoring his question.

"That doesn't answer my question,"

"I don't know..."

"It's not that hard. I. Am. Chat Noir." Plagg explained. Adrien knew that saying it wasn't the hardest part, telling her that he knew she was Ladybug would be harder. She would suspect him of only seeing her because he liked Ladybug, which was completely untrue. He had grown to love Marinette, he missed their days of carelessness in high school.

"Easier said than done," Adrien drove home as Plagg sat on his dashboard, listening to the late-night radio show host spoke about recent news. As Adrien flopped onto his bed, he thought about when he was going to tell Marinette. It couldn't be at work, or in public. His options were narrowed to her apartment building.

Meanwhile, Marinette laid in her bed, thinking about how Adrien's smile was so familiar. His smile was famous from his modelling occupation, but his smile from earlier was loving, precious and almost fragile. She fell asleep searching her memory for that smile.