Secret Identity

Chapter 2

Adrien flung open the door to his classroom, receiving confused glances from his classmates. Marinette's was definitely the most confused. Adrien had already missed two hours of school and nobody knew why except him, and his kwami, Plagg.

Adrien rushed to his seat, relived to see that their science lesson had not started yet. Although, everyone was still looking at him, wondering why he was so late. Then Nino nudged him with his elbow. "Hey, dude?" Nino hissed. "Why were you so late today, bro?"

Adrien kept his eyes to the front of the class where the teacher's desk sat, facing the students. Nino nudged Adrien again. "I'm fine Nino." His tone was blank, almost flat. Nino narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

Alya tapped him on the shoulder. Nino looked at her, shrugging when she gestured to Adrien. Marinette lowered her head, wondering why Adrien was acting so weird. Hopefully Nino will find out soon.

Reaching down to grab his bag, Adrien rummaged through it for his notebook, accidentally waking up Plagg from his nap in the process. He emitted a very quiet, "Sorry" into the bag before placing it back on the floor, beside his feet.

Adrien stuck out his finger and poked Nino, again and again until he turned around. Adrien smiled, making Nino raise an eyebrow suspiciously. "Do you have a pencil I can borrow?"

"Uhh, sure bro. Here you go." Nino handed Adrien a pencil he grabbed from his bag rather hesitantly. Adrien nodded his thanks and turned back to his notebook. Placing the pencil on the paper, Adrien began to write.

Ladybug, hey... No, that sounded too much like Adrien. Ladybug, I... No, that wouldn't work. Something then suddenly clicked in Adrien's mind and the pencil raced across the paper.

M'lady ... you may be wondering why I'm writing this... And then he continued to write numerous amount of lines, trying to get in as many as he could before the lesson begins.

Marinette, her curiosity taking over her, tried to see what Adrien was writing by looking over both his shoulders, going back and forth between them. Alya glanced at her and sighed. "Girl, girl, girl!" Alya shook her head. "You don't have to know everything he writes down. But then again, you're the most curious person I know."

Marinette tilted her head at her best friend. "I thought I was the most clumsy person you know."

Alya crossed her arms. "You are! Curious too." Alya grinned, startling Marinette when she let out a shriek. "I forgot to show you! I managed to get a video of Ladybug and Cat Noir the other day." While Alya rummaged through her bag, Adrien's head popped upwards as he heard the name of his masked partner being said out loud.

"Why didn't you show me sooner?" Marinette laughed when the video finished. It had shown Ladybug swinging across buildings, Cat Noir behind her. At that point, Marinette had froze. She realised within seconds that this was the time where she was trying to get away from Cat Noir.

Without a second thought, she handed Alya her phone back. Alya dropped it back into her bag. Marinette shrugged, deciding to continue the conversation. "What do you think Ladybug was doing?"

Adrien decided to listen to this particular conversation. "I don't know," Alya grumbled, while grinning. "She looked pretty annoyed whereas Cat Noir looked really worried. I don't know, maybe they had a fight? Or an argument?"

"I doubt it," Marinette said, smiling at her friend's confused/agitated look. Did I really look that annoyed? Marinette frowned to herself, deep in thought. Maybe knowing Cat's identity will be helpful...

Adrien tapped the pencil against the tabletop, not the only one who was deep in thought. He was halfway through the note he was writing when suddenly, what Alya said had locked into his mind. Did we really have an argument? Adrien could not honestly remember and that bugged him. Quite a bit.

Adrien handed Nino his pencil with one hand, closing his notebook with the other. Sliding it to the front of his desk, Adrien placed his head in his hands, thinking deeply about how he could convince Ladybug to show Cat who she really was.

Other thoughts were running around in his head, the main one asking himself who he really was, personality wise. Adrien, who was quiet and slightly nervous or Cat Noir, who was free and spoke with both his mind and heart? Or was it a mixture of both? He didn't know.

Only one person could answer that question. Ladybug.

"That's it!" Adrien exclaimed, forgetting he was at school. Marinette, Alya and Nino stared at him. "Nothing. Ignore me."

Adrien needed her, like she needed him. There must have been a reason why he was chosen for Cat Noir. He never knew before but now, he's certain. It's because him and Ladybug are meant for each other, they just haven't realised it until now. Well, only Adrien has.

No wonder why he fell for Ladybug. Although, in his opinion, it's impossible to not fall in love with her. She needs to know, Adrien thought. Ladybug needs to know who Cat Noir is and Cat Noir needs to know who she is.

However, Marinette came into view. Adrien was completely oblivious to how much Marinette liked him, but he had an idea. Thinking now, Adrien loved how she stammered all the time and that she was really cute. He never admitted it to himself unfortunately.

"Dude. Dude. Dude. Dude!" Nino's voice broke Adrien out of his thoughts. "You've been staring into space for like ten minutes now. Everything okay?"

Adrien saw Marinette laugh out if the corner of his eye and he felt his cheeks grow warm. "I'm good, Nino. Really. Just thinking."

"About what?" Nino asked, waving away Alya's hand which was poking him. Adrien didn't answer. Nino saw him glance at Marinette then quickly look away as if nothing had happened. "Oh, I know. Bro! Why didn't you say anything?"

Adrien shrugged and grinned at Nino, gesturing him to be quiet when the teacher walked into the classroom. As she started the lesson, all Adrien could think about was how he was going to convince Ladybug to let him show his identity to her. Adrien hoped she would do the same.