Growing Up

A Display Of Regret

Adrien wanted to be mad at her for being so rude to Felix, but she did have a point. He never told the rest of the group that Felix would be joining, but her reaction was extreme. He knew what possessiveness was, and that was it at full force. He'd never seen her burst like that especially in front of him. Marinette used to never be able to go against what Adrien said, although she would sometimes politely voice her opinion.

"Dude," Nino couldn't move his body to look in the direction that Marinette left in. "You should go talk to her." 

"Yeah Adrien, you should." Felix rolled his eyes and pulled Adrien's bag out of his hands. "I've got your stuff, go dramatically run after her like the ex-lover who realized his mistake too late." He laughed at the thought and walked into the house.

At that, Adrien dashed down the street and turned the way Marinette had. he quickly ducked into an alley and transformed into Cat Noir. "Where could she possibly be?" He asked himself looking around for the raven haired girl.

While he did this, Felix secretly walked back out of the house and walked away from the direction that Marinette ran. If knew one thing about her, it was that she was amazing at get away plans. She must have turned the corner and walked back down the street and headed in the opposite direction. Adrien probably didn't figure it out.

Just as he thought, he found her on a bench with her knees to her chest. Her faced was guarded and he could see the unevenness of her breathing. Felix felt a slight ping of guilt in his chest, but not enough to actually care about whether or not she forgave his cousin.

"Ahoy there." He strutted over and took a seat. "You seemed delighted back there. I'm sure that whole section of Paris heard you talk shit." He laughed a bit. When he didn't get a response he continued. "You didn't have to give me such a warm welcome. If it makes you feel better, I like an honest welcome rather than a forced one." He flicked her arm.

"Go away Fel-shit." She stood up and walked away. "Don't you dare touch me."

He rolled his eyes again. "Fine, but just forgive Adrien, I'm sure he's already forgiven you. He won't get any sleep if he thinks you hate his guts." He frowned deeply. "I don't know if you've ever met cranky Adrien, but trust me, it's not nice." He waved goodbye and headed back to the dorm.

Marinette couldn't believe what she had heard him say. Felix was trying to make her feel better. That was the nicest thing he'd probably ever done in his life. 

"P-Princess?"

"Oh, hey Cat."

"Are you doing okay? You seem anxious."

"Not so much anxious as disappointed."

Adrien felt shivers in his body. Disappointed? In him? "Oh?"

"An old friend of mine did something I don't agree with and I'm angry."

He didn't listen to that. His brain was still trying to figure out if she was disappointed in him. "W-Wait, so you're disappointed in your friend?"

"No Cat." She frowned. "With myself." She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I yelled at Adrien!" She cried. "I screamed in his face and cussed out his cousin for being such a bitch the last time he visited." Hot tears fell as she felt herself fall apart. "I hate that I did that!"

Cat felt his heart break. She should never feel worried about how she makes him feel because he knows she can differentiate between right and wrong. "I'm sure your friend will forgive you if you just talk to him." He hugged her and tried to hold her together.

"That's what Felix said, but I don't know if I can trust him, I-I mean last time he did something bad-"

"To your friends, I remember that." Cat Noir remembered that day like it was yesterday. He had convinced Felix to try and be a better person since then, but he knew there hadn't been much change in his cousins cold and uninviting personality.

"N-No, well, I mean yeah, but he did something else too."

Adrien hadn't heard anything of this before from Felix. The day after, he demanded that Felix tell him every little detail. "Oh really? What did he do then?"

"I don't want to say." She pushed herself away from Adrien. "It's too embarrassing, and I don't need more people finding out who I like." She huffed more than she meant to and quickly covered up her mouth. "I mean..."

"Wait though, who do you like?" Cat Noir teased as she squirmed uncomfortably.

Marinette began to run away from the hero with all her might. "I'll never say!" She screamed while running. Although, she forgot who she was up against.

Cat Noir pinned her on the ground and smirked in her face. She had already forgotten about being sad, and was now focused on keeping her secret. Mission accomplished, he thought to himself. "So who?" He said again. "Don't make me tickle it out of you Mari." He brought up his hands, and she immediately surrendered. 

"Alright you mangy stray." She tried to push him off her, but he still held her wrists and was hurdled over her. "I like... a guy." She tried to push him off again.

"Listen, I'm willing to play this 20 questions game." He laughed. "I've got all day."

"Fine, go."

"Do I know him?"

"Yes, almost everyone in Paris does."

"Well Paris is a tightly knitted community Marinette." he laughed again. "Does he go to school with you?"

She pretended to think about it. "I think he does Cat, good question!"

"Is he good looking?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Are you sure you want to waste a good question on that? Of course he is!" She rolled her eyes with a grin.

"Marinette!" He playfully scolded. "Nino is Alya's boyfriend!" He shook his head. "That's so wrong!"

"You stupid cat." She tried to get up. "I'm done playing." As a result, Cat Noir dropped all his bodyweight onto her. "Cat, get off of me." She wheezed. "Actually," she snickered, "you're pretty light. How much do you weight?"

"160." He said tersely. "Ummm, is this person musically oriented?"

"I would say so, but probably only because his father makes him. Otherwise, I've never seen him voluntarily play piano." She sighed.

"Ah, so far he is a good looking, peer of yours who plays piano because his father forces him too... This eliminates Nino, Luka, and basically all of your old peers."

"So your going with that he didn't go to my high school?" She questioned. "Are you sure?"

"I would say yes, but your question suggests that he was... Hold on." He pulled up a list of his old classmates. "Yeah all of them." He looked back at her.

"Ask me more general appearance questions like skin tone or nationality." She poked.

"Well damn Marinette, we're all French here, how is that gonna help?" He pouted as she rolled her eyes again. "If you keep rolling your eyes like that you'll never be able to study..." He thought for a second. "Speaking of studying, what is he studying at that Arts college?"

"Modeling."