He Can't Forget | ✓

9 | jealousy and popcorn

Adrien couldn't stop thinking about what Marinette had said.

Her words plagued his mind—even in his dreams. He found himself totally engrossed in trying to figure out how Marinette had known he'd been in America. Adrien questioned Nino about it first, who seemed just as confused—if not even more confused—than he was. He even asked Alya, who clearly got offended by his implication that she had gone and told Marinette who he was.

So, he came to the conclusion that neither of them had told her. That only left him with two other options.

Either Marinette had heard about it from the press (considering he was famous even though he'd tried to be as discreet about his move as possible), or Marinette was Ladybug.

As Adrien pondered over the options he'd considered carefully, he was starting to think the second option could actually be true. The more he thought about the possibility of the two most important women in his life actually being the same woman, the more he started to panic. What if he was right and Marinette was Ladybug? If that were the case, then that would mean the entire time he had dated Marinette, he also dated Ladybug.

And it also meant that Marinette knew he was Chat Noir.

Adrien tried not to let his panic show. He didn't have any proof that any of this was even true—but the theory still haunted his mind nonetheless. He found himself slowly lumbering around in Marinette's apartment hoping he looked discreet, his sense always on alert and his sight usually focused on Marinette as he watched her every move. His hope had been to catch anything that might hint at him that she was indeed Ladybug. But Marinette seemed to catch on that she was being watched. She started to meet his eyes across the room, a single brow raised as she simply stared at him closely. He never averted his eyes whenever their gazes crossed. He didn't want to seem intimated. But then, Marinette smiled at him, and her smile looked anything from one that was meant to be welcoming and warm. Oh no, she was smirking at him.

As if she were saying: you know who I am, huh? I'm eager to see what you're gonna do about it.

He was too scared to approach her with the question, even if he might be wrong. If he was right, that meant Marinette probably loathed him... and the fact that she had even welcomed him into her home to begin with, or hadn't kicked him out yet, was a surprise all on its own.

If he was still alive and breathing, he supposed that was a good sign.

"Plagg... I think Marinette and Ladybug are the same person."

He voiced his thoughts to Plagg one night after everyone had gone to sleep. His kwami had been disgustingly nose deep into a piece of camembert when he looked up suddenly, no sign of any emotion etched into his features when he decided to respond after a moment of silence had stretched between them. "What makes you think that?"

"Marinette said something to me the other day that... only Ladybug would've known." The blonde said slowly as he recollected the moment. It scared him the more the memory continued to repeat in his head.

Plagg seemed completely disinterested. "So?" He was back to nibbling on his cheese.

"What do you mean 'so'? Don't you find that suspicious?"

His kwami had shrugged to that, never providing an answer for that question as he continued to slowly devour his precious camembert all the while savoring each bite.

The next morning hadn't been any better for him. Adrien was awoken early to the sound of Marinette grounding coffee at some ungodly hour in the morning. He threw his pillow over his head and groaned quietly, hoping that he could fall back asleep, but Marinette seemed to have different intensions for him. She woke him up, much to his displeasure, and offered him a mug of coffee.