Miraculous Ladybug, "The Tell-Tale Kiss" ch. 8, rated T

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Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug & Chat Noir
Title: The Tell-Tale Kiss
Chapter Title: Eight - All for a Girl
Pairing/Characters: Marinette (Ladybug), Adrien (Chat Noir), Tikki, Plagg, Marinette/Adrien
Word Count: 2894
Genre: Humor/Romance
Rating: T
Spoilers: Up to Season 2 (for now)

Notes: This is a new multi-chapter fic though it won't be too long. I've written a few chapters and have the rest outlined. For now, this first chapter is written for my "major" prompt for the Summer Mini Challenge. Characters are aged up about a few years, around 16 years old. Canon divergent from Season 2/3.

Notes for this Chapter: Adrien and Marinette make it official...

Other Links: FFnet | AO3

Summary: Adrien has had enough. If Ladybug won't accept him as Chat Noir, well, then maybe she'll say yes to Paris's top male model? When she gives her answer, he doesn't expect what comes next.

The Tell-Tale Kiss

Chapter Eight - All For a Girl

Getting through piano lessons, Chinese language studies, and dinner with his father and Nathalie felt like an eternity, and was more like a chore than his usual routine. During random times during the day when Adrien wasn’t busy, he texted with Marinette and got lost in their back and forth discussion. He delighted in her emojis, her sweet messages of encouragement, and most of all, her Snapchat selfies. 

More than anything, Adrien would have loved to see her in person, but once again his father had stacked his schedule with photo shoots and lessons, and he couldn’t seem to get away. He didn’t want to seem anxious or raise his father’s suspicions of his interaction with Marinette. 

As far as Gabriel Agreste knew, Marinette was still just one of his good friends.

At some point, he knew he had homework to work on, so he excused himself from his father’s presence and headed up to his room. When he flopped onto his bed, he didn’t feel like doing anything else but sneaking out and seeing Marinette.

He let out a languid sigh and he stared at his ceiling. Plagg said something to him while munching on some cheese, but his thoughts drowned out the kwami’s words.

“Hey, space cadet, you have a text from pig-tail girl again,” Plagg said, lightly kicking Adrien’s foot. 

“Huh?” Adrien said, and sat up on the bed. “Ladybug?”

Plagg burst out laughing. “Man, you have problems.” The kwami threw his phone to Adrien, and the model barely caught it in time before it torpedoed over his shoulder and onto the floor.

His phone buzzed again with the cute tune that he picked out for Marinette, and he saw his notifications with her name. 

M: Hey, I know you said you only had free time on Thursday, but do you have time tomorrow night to see a performance by Kitty Section?:

M: They have a gig at one of the culture festivals downtown and I designed their new costumes.:

Adrien watched as she typed something further, a cute kitten emoji, coincidentally, a black kitten with green eyes.

A: Maybe. What time?:

M: They go on stage around 8 o’clock. I know that seems late, but they almost had to play later than that.:

M: Juleka’s mom convinced them otherwise. ^^;:

Adrien thought for a moment. Tomorrow was Wednesday, the day before their big date. He had Chinese again, then dinner, and then his father would leave him to do homework. He’d never agree to Adrien going out that late among the Parisian locals, so he’d have to bribe his bodyguard again. He sighed.

A: I can, but only if we bribe my bodyguard again.:

He thought for a moment about anything he noticed his bodyguard wanting lately. He did catch him playing some games on his phone sometimes, the same game every time, and from what Adrien knew that game also had action figures. He grinned.

A: He’s been looking for figures of that new phone game, Battle Bruiser. If we can swing that I can probably come.:

M: Oh! Well, I think I can look into that but I’m not sure I can find the right thing.:

A: Leave it to me. I know just what to get him. ;-):

M: Yay! You’re amazing, Adrien. <3 <3 =^.^=

Adrien’s heart swelled, and he wished he could hold her right now. He wished he could see her face. He let out a happy sigh.

A: I wish I could see you right now. I still owe you a kiss.:

He hoped that wasn’t too sappy, but he couldn’t help himself. It was how he felt.

Several seconds went by and she didn’t respond, and Adrien was starting to get worried. He watched his phone in anticipation, hoping she’d text back.

Then he saw the three active dots indicating she was typing. It lagged a bit, and then he saw the message.

M: You do, and any more you think you owe me.:

M: Sorry if that took awhile. I dropped my phone when I read your message. I might have had a mini heart attack. ^^;:

A: LOL. That’s okay. If it’s alright with you, I’ll owe you another one, a goodnight kiss.:

M: As many as you want. <3<3

M: I should let you go. I am still working on our project. 

A: Same. See you tomorrow. <3

M: Good luck. Good night Adrien. <3 <3 <3

A: Good night, my dear. ( ˘ ³˘)♥

Adrien let out another heavy, happy sigh and clutched the phone to his chest. He knew he needed to get on with his homework, but for once, he just wanted to lay here and indulge in his thoughts. He brought his phone up to look at the lock screen, which was now a sweet picture of Marinette. He brought the phone to his lips and imagined kissing her, tasting her sweetness and feeling her warm breath mix with his.

He couldn’t wait until tomorrow when he could finally see her face and touch her again. In the meantime, he had work to do. He had to find something to bribe his Gorilla bodyguard with and he had to find the perfect action figure tonight. He looked out his bedroom window and saw the night sky.

He grinned. Rather, he wouldn’t be able to do it as Adrien, but Chat Noir could.

--

The day at school seemed to go fast as long as he was with Marinette. He stayed with her, Nino and Ayla pretty much all the time as per usual, but he could tell that Ayla and Nino were purposely leaving them alone at times, giving them some privacy. 

He didn’t want to keep Marinette out of his sight, as the glares from Chloe and Lila were obvious and stifling. 

At the end of the day, Marinette followed him into his car as he gave her a ride home. Before his bodyguard could usher her out the door, Adrien stopped her.

“Marinette,” he said, and he placed a gentle hand on her arm. She was looking out the car window, but then she turned around to face him. She smiled, and he leaned in closer to her lips. 

“I owe you a goodbye kiss,” he whispered, and he watched the blush color the paleness of her skin. He could see her freckles at this proximity, and he wished they had time for him to count them.

She smiled and closed her eyes as he leaned closer, their lips meeting for a hot moment before Gorilla had opened the door. Reluctant to end the kiss, they heard his bodyguard clearing his throat to prompt Marinette to exit.

“See you tonight,” she whispered as her lips pulled away. He gave her one last quick kiss before letting her go. 

“Uh huh, I’ll find you,” he said, and he watched her lovely form as she skipped through the bakery’s front door.

When his driver came back into the car, checking his mirrors and putting on his belt, Adrien met his gaze in the mirror.

“So, I have a proposition for you…” he said, channeling his alter ego Chat Noir. Adrien held up an action figure from Gorilla’s favorite phone game and watched with glee as the bodyguard’s eyes widened when he realized what it was.

“I heard this is a pretty rare figure, only about 50 made in all of France. I was hoping to give it to you for a favor. My friend’s band is playing tonight and I really want to go…”

His bodyguard said nothing at first, but he stared at the figure without acknowledging the grin that Adrien was giving him.

Finally, his bodyguard nodded, and Adrien had to restrain himself from outwardly celebrating.

--

Despite already bribing his bodyguard for driving him to the concert, Adrien found it pretty easy to sneak past his father as he didn’t even seem to be home. He was excited to see Marinette, but he was also cautious not to draw his father’s attention on his activities. 

As his car pulled up to the courtyard where the band was playing, he saw Marinette waiting for him. He gasped as he looked her over; she was wearing a loose green shirt with black jeans and her hair was flowing over her shoulders. He hadn’t seen her hair down that often, but seeing her like this now made his heart flutter more than usual. He felt excitement course through his whole body, and he ached to touch her. 

She waved at him, and then her hands settled in front of her as she waited for his driver to let him out. He practically leapt out the door after her, and he took her hands into his as he approached her. 

“Hi,” she said, and he resisted every urge to kiss her breathless in front of everyone in this courtyard. 

“Hi,” he said, and he almost got lost in staring at her again, but he had one more thing to do before his rebellious night could begin. He turned to his bodyguard and handed him the rare action figure he promised him. He took it gently, and Adrien noticed a flicker of happiness in his steely eyes.

“As promised. Thank you for doing this,” he told him. His bodyguard only grunted at him, and he turned to find a suitable parking space so he could keep an eye on Adrien.

Adrien turned back to Marinette, who was already leading him to their group of friends by the band.

“I hope you don’t mind that I invited everyone out,” she said. “Luka said that some indie record labels were scouting some of the bands tonight, so I tried to get them a good crowd to show that they’re popular. I think it’ll help with their image.”

The mention of Luka’s name caught him off guard, and he felt a sting in his chest at Marinette’s familiarity with the boy. They always seemed close, and it was obvious Luka liked Marinette. He’d even overheard Rose talking with Juleka at school once that her brother couldn’t stop talking about Marinette, and that she’d never seen her brother so interested in any girl before.

Adrien tried not to be jealous, but it was hard to push the feelings away. He knew that Marinette liked him, so he tried to talk himself out of feeling threatened by the blue-haired guitarist. For Marinette’s sake, he would try to be as civil and kind as possible to him, regardless of his feelings.

“Of course, the more the merrier,” Adrien said, happy to see more people here even if he wouldn’t mind just having some alone time with Marinette.

“I even invited Kagami,” Marinette said smiling. “She seemed a little shy, but when she heard you would be here, she was happy to come.”

“Heh,” he replied, not knowing how to feel about that. It was true he had some feelings for Kagami at one point, and he considered her a good friend, but now that he had Marinette, he knew it was going to be awkward around her.

Marinette didn’t seem to mind, especially since she’d invited her. It was good that the two of them were friends, and it warmed his heart that Marinette was so kind in giving Kagami a chance instead of being jealous or even cold to the girl. Marinette’s kindness was palpable, and he was sometimes in awe of her selflessness.

He supposed that was one of the many things he loved about Marinette. 

When they approached the crowd, Adrien saw Nino waving them over to their group, containing Alya, Kagami, Nathan, Marc and Mylene. He also spotted Alix and Kim having it out over some sport topic behind them, as well as some other classmates lingering around others in the crowd. On the small stage, Kitty Section was setting up their equipment and checking the mics. Luka was idly strumming his guitar, and Ivan was tapping on his symbols. Rose was doing a vocal check, and Juleka was replacing some strings on her guitar.

Adrien saw Luka spot them, and he could tell he only had eyes on Marinette. Marinette must have noticed and they exchanged smiles. Adrien quickened his pace behind Marinette, hoping to catch the eye of the guitarist as well, and when he did, he shot him a nod and a sunny smile, and threw him a wave.

There was no way he was going to be an ass to a guy that Marinette cared about. He was too much of a gentleman for that. Plus, what did he have to gain? He already had Marinette, well, to some degree. They’d only just kissed and said they liked each other. They had a date planned, and they talked on text all the time. But technically she wasn’t his girlfriend, and though he was a little nervous of his father finding out, he wanted to make that claim on her soon.

Luka went back to his guitar strumming, lost in his own thoughts again, and Adrien followed Marinette to stand by the others. 

“Wow, model boy made it. I’m impressed,” Alya said right away.

“Dude, I’m so glad you could come! What did this jailbreak cost you,” Nino said happily, fist bumping his best friend. 

Adrien grinned at him. “Oh, just a rare action figure that my bodyguard really wanted and probably would never find on his own.” 

“Sweet,” Nino said approvingly. “You do have good connections.”

“I’m just glad I could make it,” Adrien said, looking at Marinette fondly. 

“Adrien,” said a voice behind him, and he turned around to see Kagami smiling at him. “Marinette said you would be here.”

“Wouldn’t miss it. Hello, Kagami,” he said smiling, and he took her hand and kissed the top of it. She bowed to him lightly.

“I’m glad you are here. There is something I wanted to ask you,” she said, and Adrien felt anxious at what that would be, but Kagami seemed fearless as always. When she wanted something, she never hesitated.

“Uh, yeah, sure…” he stammered.

“I haven’t seen you in a while, but the last time we met, I missed my chance,” Kagami said. “I will wait no longer. Adrien I am asking you to go out with me.”

Nino and Ayla’s jaw seemed to drop in sync, and Marinette’s eyes bugged out at the forwardness. Adrien felt his whole face warm with a blush. She waited patiently, her eyes boring into him like a hot iron.

“Uh… Kagami, while I consider you one of my closest friends and definitely a very special girl, I already have someone I’m going out with,” Adrien said, saying it all in one breath and then feeling lightheaded when he came back for air.

“Oh... so you’re rejecting me,” Kagami said, and she looked sad. Marinette moved to comfort her, but she put up her hand to stave her away. “May I ask who I have already lost to in winning your heart?”

Adrien sighed and looked at her sadly. He grabbed Marinette’s hand and gently drew her close to lean into his side.  “I’m sorry, Kagami. I’ve been seeing Marinette for a couple of days now.”

Instead of looking heartbroken, Kagami gave him a small smile. Everyone around them was staring and seemed surprised at Adrien’s revelation. 

“So, you were finally honest with each other,” Kagami said with a sigh. She crossed her arms but still remained sanguine. “The tension was obnoxious.”

Alya let out a nervous laugh. “Ain’t that the truth.”

“Word,” Nino said, and he turned to Adrien and clapped him on the shoulder. “Finally, dude. Finally. Good for you. I’m happy for you guys.”

It felt like the whole group let out a collective sigh. Marinette’s face had gone tomato red, and Adrien was relieved by Kagami’s reaction. Kagami turned to Marinette and nodded.

“I’m glad that it’s you,” she said, but then she rested her fists on her hips like she was ready to issue a challenge. “But if you guys don’t work out, I will not hesitate to pursue you again, Adrien, and I will win.”

Marinette giggled. She looked at Adrien. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” Adrien smiled at her and they snuggled closer, with Marinette leaning her head on his shoulder and Adrien giving her a quick kiss to the top of her head.

They all turned to the band, and it was obvious a certain guitar player was watching them too. His expression was cool, almost unreadable, but Adrien could see something different in the boy’s eyes. He was hurting but he would never show it. He felt empathy for Luka, and he hoped that he could still be friends with him, and that he and Marinette would be okay too.

Soon the somber mood was cut through by Rose’s high-pitched screech as the band looked ready to play.

Rose yelled into the microphone, drawing everyone’s attention. Adrien took Marinette’s hand and squeezed it. They looked at each other as their smiles never faded, and he felt like he wanted to hold her forever.

Juleka strummed a loud note that reverberated throughout the park. Rose squealed again, sending a tremor through everyone’s ears.

“We are Kitty Section! Are you guys ready to ROOOCCCCCCKKKK?”

.