Growing Up

A Display Of Worry

"M-Modeling?" He stuttered. "Like putting on clothes and strutting down the catwalk? That's my kind of job!" He exclaimed while jumping up and pretending he was on the runway. "Is this right Marinette?"

"I wouldn't know, but I'm sure Adrie-" She blushed with wide eyes.

"Marinette?" He asked. "You l-like Adrien Agreste?" But she was already gone when he snapped out of his daze.

Her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. Cat Noir had always been someone who she felt she could joke around with, but entrusting a total stranger with the secret of her crush scared her to death. Felix knowing was one thing because she could monitor him, but Cat Noir could be a sadistic creep who wanted to watch her world burn.

When she got back home, she ran into the room she and Alya shared and plopped herself on the bed. "Oh Alya." She sighed. "My life is in shambles."

"What'd you say girl? You're being muffled by the fact that your face is down on the mattress!" With a hand on her hip, she walked over to her best friend and chuckled softly. "I'm starting to think I'm the most mature one in our friend group Marinette. By the way, did you see Adrien on your way back?"

Marinette was too distracted by her own life crisis to answer the question about Adrien. "Good for you, at least you didn't accidentally tell a super hero you like Adrien Agreste like a dumbass!" 

"...Marinette?" Alya froze. "You told Ladybug you like Adrien Agreste?"

"No... Cat Noir!" She turned over and flailed her arms around. "I'm so scared!"

Nino walked in and leaned on the door frame. "Why are you scared?" 

"She told Cat Noir she liked Adrien." Alya shrugged. "I think she's over reacting."

"Yeah dudette, the lady's got a point. " He pushed up his glasses. "What's the worst he could do?"

"Well, he could tell Adrien that she likes him." Felix joined in. "But isn't that what you need in order to finally make that next step?" He walked into the room and sat down next to her again. He reached out to pat her head when she grabbed his wrist and squeezed it.

"I told you not to fucking touch me." She snapped. "Why are you even here? Get out now." She roughly threw back his arm and slumped down again. "I'm so done."

A sudden tap came from the window. It was a sharp clank. A couple more clicks followed until it was a steady flow. "Marinette!" They heard from down below. "Open the window!"

Felix walked over to the window and opened it. "Calm down Romeo, we're having a mental crisis in here, come back later." He shut the window harshly and walked out of the room. "Good luck." Was all he said.

"Who is it babe?" Nino asked as Alya went to go see if the person was still there.

"I'm not sure I don't see-AHH!" She fell back. "Damn it, you!" She scowled. Creeping down from the top of the window so that he looked into the room upside down was Cat Noir with a concerned look on his face.

"Can you open the window?" He pleaded with bright eyes and a shy smile. "Please?" He stuck out his bottom lip in a pout and tapped the glass. "Is my princess in there? I wanna talk."

Marinette walked over with her eyebrows creased. "No." She looked him dead in the eyes. "Only if you promise me one thing."

"Anything, I just wanna talk!"

"You can't tell anyone that I like Adrien, not even Ladybug or Adrien himself. If I see so much as a change in Adrien's behavior towards me, I will ignore you for the rest of my life." She knew it was harsh to say that she would ignore him, and that he could probably care less, but she had to instill some sort of fear or consequence.

Adrien's head was coursing with worry. How could he not tell Adrien, when Cat Noir and Adrien are the same person! All he could do was nod and stick out a pinky.

She opened the door and wrapping her pinky around his. "You do realize that doing this symbolizes an unbreakable promise that if you don't follow through, I have every right to cut your finger off, right?" Marinette mustered the semblance of a smile and pulled him into the room.

"I won't tell him, but I can't guarantee that his behavior will stay the same around you. He's a human being who has emotions and a conscious that makes him act."

"You know what I mean Cat stop making excuses." She looked around the room for Alya and Nino, but they had left and closed the door on their way out which probably meant they wanted to let her deal with this.

"So continuing where we left off at the park, I wanna know more!" He laid down on the floor and stretched into a comfortable position, just like a cat would. "How long have you liked him?"

"A couple years now." She blushed. She explained the first day she met him and the gum situation. She told Cat about how much of a snob she had thought he was. Then she explained the umbrella. "It was right after he gave me his umbrella that I knew he was a good person. At that moment, I felt terrible for everything I had said and thought about him before." She sadly smiled. "The following years were awkward for me because no matter what I tried to do or how I acted, he's never really looked at me as more than a friend." She laughed.

"Really?" Cat faked interest. It wasn't that he didn't care, but he felt bad for ignoring her all these years.

"Yep! Alya and Nino would make jokes about it all the time... I think some of our classmates even made some memes." She pulled out her phone and opened her photos app. Just like she had said, there were multiple photos of Adrien being super nice to her and treating her better than other next to a clip of his saying...

"Marinette? She's a really good friend."

"Jesus."