mind over mask

twenty

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Marinette's POV

The next day at school, I felt smothered. Adrien and Chloe asked if I was alright a million times. I was fine, but I had a better chance of convincing myself then them.

Damian asked as well, and after I told him the same answer I had told my other two best friends, he dropped it. I appreciated the fact that he knew I didn't want to talk about it, and he didn't push me like Chloe or Adrien would.

When school was over, I exited the building in a heart beat, leaving all my friends behind. I hide on the side of the building, watching as Chloe and Adrien struggled to find me. They gave up quickly, Adrien had a fashion show after school, and Chloe had to be in attendance for a city hall meeting with her father, the Mayor.

I watched them drive away, and released a breath. I searched for Damian, hoping that he would give up too.

"Who are we looking for?" A familiar voice whispered into my ear, sending chills down my back.

I jumped, and spun around to find Damian, with a cool smirk.

"Nobody," I said a little too quickly.

Looking at my face for a second, he states, "I'm going home, Grayson will probably be home early."

"You don't have to," I offered, slightly blushing at how willing I was to hang out with Damian, a crush that he would hopefully never find out about.

His green eyes bore into mine, "Good. I have a question to ask you."

My eyebrow furrow in confusion, "Why can't you ask me right now?"

"I doubt you would want me to ask this in a public space." Damian says cryptically. "Do you want to come to my place?"

He knows.

"Okay," I whisper. We walk over a few blocks, to a large and spacious building. We enter through the doors, and everything just screams wealthy. Damian nods at a man, who opens the elevator for us.

My thoughts are going a million miles a minute as we rise in the elevator. Damian straight to the point, he'll never whack around the bush. Whatever he wants to ask, he'll start out with the worst of it.

My back is towards him as I walk into his apartment. If you could call it that, it was more of a penthouse. It had a modern feel to it, and I studied it before I realized why we originally came here.

I turn to face him, and he's given me a bit of space to breathe.

"Marinette, are you Ladybug?" Damian asks in all seriousness.

He's been in the country for over 2 months, and he's already figured out Ladybug's secret identity? Damian had to be more than just a Wayne...

I laugh out loud, but inside I'm panicking, is he really the first one to figure it out?

"No! Why would you think that?" I say, wiping fake tears of laughter off of my cheeks.

He presents his points, "You have the same eye color, hair color, and physical features. You conveniently disappear when she's around. You're always busy and you won't tell me with what. And, you act like her, you care about everyone. Ladybug left in a hurry last night and you wouldn't respond."

"While I'm flattered that you compared me to her, I'm not Ladybug." I dismiss the thought, over exaggerating with my hands.

Damian stares into my eyes with disbelief, "Prove it."