He Can't Forget | ✓

8 | kudos to kwamis

Marinette knew without a shadow of a doubt that Adrien was Chat Noir but finding Tikki and Plagg nestled together on one of her pillows as she came out of the shower wrapped in a towel only further confirmed what she already knew.

"Plagg," She addressed him with little-to-no emotion in her voice, startling both of the kwamis which seemed to be having a quiet, reunion with a piece of cheese to share in between them—even though Marinette knew her kwami well enough to know that Tikki would never eat something as repulsive as camembert. "Why is there cheese on my bed?"

The kwami in question sprung into the air, his eyes blown wide as he hovered timidly with the piece of cheese clutched tightly between his paws. "Marinette! Uh. I can explain all of this—"

He looked as if he'd been caught in the act of doing something wrong, because there was a pretty good chance Adrien had already given his kwami a lecture about staying hidden, so it was only to Plagg's horror that he believed he'd gotten caught. The sight had Marinette grinning against her own will.

"It's okay." Tikki assured him as she came up to float beside him. "Marinette already knows."

"What?" Plagg spared a very quick, uncertain glance between Tikki and her holder, before his gaze landed entirely on Marinette. "You already know Adrien is Chat Noir?"

Marinette didn't even hesitate on her answer. "Yes."

Plagg didn't seem too surprised by that revelation—as if he knew his holder was stupid enough to blow his cover that easily. "How did you find out?"

"I overheard him talking to Nino." Marinette shrugged, not feeling at all ashamed that she had eavesdropped on them that night. "Their conversation consisted of the fact that Adrien is Chat Noir... and Nino already knew that, apparently."

It wasn't hard to miss Plagg's wince. "Yeah... about that—"

She didn't let him finish his train of thought. "How long has Nino known?"

Plagg swallowed uncomfortably. "For years." He admitted hesitantly.

Marinette huffed out a bitter laugh. "Of course. So that means Alya must know as well?"

Her theory was confirmed when Plagg didn't answer, instead his gaze averting to Tikki's, as if seeking for her help. But Tikki remained silent as well, her small frown an indication that none of this was meant to be discovered like it was currently being unraveled.

"Why am I not surprised?" Marinette chuckled resentfully. "They both know who he is—they've known for years, yet when we were together, no matter how many times I begged, he wouldn't tell me who he was. I guess Adrien trusts them more than he trusts Marinette."

"No! It's not like that!" Plagg tried to assure her with urgency in his voice, but Marinette wasn't sure how much of his words she would actually believe. "He never told them—they found out on their own! Well... Alya found out, and then she told Nino, and then they both confronted Adrien about it. But he never told them."

Even if that were true, there were too many unanswered questions to give Adrien the benefit of the doubt. "If they found out, why didn't they tell me?"

"They figured it wasn't their place to tell." Plagg answered her sadly. "They wanted Adrien to tell you for himself. You deserved to hear it from him. They did everything they could to try to make him stay, though. So, did I. But all of our advice seemed to fall on deaf ears."

Marinette wanted to argue against that, because she didn't think Adrien hadn't listened simply because he hadn't understood. She believed he hadn't listened because he didn't care. And if he really didn't care, did he ever care about their relationship? The fun times they shared, or even the intimate ones? Did all of that mean nothing to him?