Babysitting • Adrienette •

Chapter 18

Marinette

I feel absolutely terrible.

The way I treated Adrien was so embarrassingly rude and I wish I didn't have to act this way. It's what I needed to do to protect my identity though.

Sometimes being a superhero is a lot of hard work.

Oh, and yeah I did trip on purpose by the way. And I did make myself stutter more than usual as well. If I'm going to stop Adrien from finding out, I need to make it as easy as possible to differentiate between me and my alter ego. My identity has to be kept a secret...Even if it means...losing my relationship with Adrien.

I mean maybe I could still have a relationship with him as Ladybug? No, that would be too weird. After all, I did tell Cat Noir that we have to start relationships with people without using our superhero identities.

Speaking of Cat Noir, why is he coming through my window right now?

Hold up, Cat Noir is coming through my window right now! What the heck?!

His eyes find mine and he smiles rather sweetly. Okay this is strange. "Umm Cat Noir, what are you doing in my room? Last time you came here it was only because you wanted croissants," I question, folding my arms.

I must admit though, a large part of me is absolutely ecstatic to see him again. It should help take my mind off of Adrien.

"I'm here because I heard from a few er- 'sources' that you weren't being yourself today? And you know, I gotta-stop-akumas! Yeah I gotta stop akumas from happening so I just came to check on you," he says, putting his hands behind his back and bouncing on his toes.

His stance is practically foreign to me. What happened to him since the time I saw him last? He's never normally this awkward.

"Well, uh-thank you for your-concern. But I'm absolutely fine and these 'sources' you've heard from have probably got it wrong. But, it's good to see you anyway," I genuinely smile. I'm pretty shocked that he thinks I'm not being myself. The only person I haven't been acting myself around is...Adrien. Do they know each other?

Confusion consumes his features. "No, okay I know for a fact you haven't been acting like yourself! You're just faking normal-ness right now! I know it! Talk to me," he practically demands adamantly, walking closer towards me.

Now it's my turn to be confused. How on earth does he know for a fact that I've not been myself? "Cat Noir, you need to calm down. Nothing is wrong with me. Besides, you're the one who hasn't said one single pun since you came through my window; if anything I'd say something's up with you!" I accuse back nervously; he's getting a bit too close for comfort right now.

He raises an eyebrow as he takes one more step closer to me, leaving a pretty short distance between the two of us. If he takes one more step, I'll be able to feel his breath fan over my face. The thought makes my spine tingle and my heart flutter slightly. "You know, you're so cute when you lie. You do this cute thing where you scrunch up your nose and it literally kills me."

I feel my jaw drop unintentionally. First of all, he just completely ignored my accusation of him. And second of all, why did he just say that? I thought he'd found someone that wasn't Ladybug to like? I mean, technically I'm not Ladybug at the moment but if he did like me I'd have to know him outside his mask and I think I'd know Cat Noir's real identity if I was familiar with him outside of his mask.

I mean, come on, I'm not that stupid.

"But anyway that's beside the point. I need you to talk to me, Marinette. What's bothering you?" He notices how flustered I am and changes the subject from how 'cute' I am.

"Nothing is bothering me. At least nothing that I can talk to anyone about. All I can say is that I have a secret and I can't let anyone find out and it's killing me inside. There's nothing I can do about it though..." I carefully admit, sighing. There's no harm in telling him a rough outline of what I'm feeling. It relieves some of the pressure of repressing it anyway.

To my surprise, Cat Noir gives a sympathetic smile. "Yeah, I know what that's like. I mean I'm Cat Noir! A superhero who's identity has to be kept a secret! It's so difficult to keep that in sometimes." He pauses. "How about we do a trade. You tell me your secret, and I'll tell you mine," he suggests in a quiet voice.

I stare at him, dumbfounded. "Uh, if you're talking about revealing your true identity to me then no way! You barely even know me; why would you want to reveal yourself to someone you've only had a conversation with a few times? That's insane! Stop being so purrsistent!" He smirks amusedly, taking the step that I feared he would. My eyes widen when I realise what I just said. I mentally groan. Why did I just do that?

My hand is suddenly lifted by his as he presses a kiss to the back, still smirking. "Okay. I won't reveal my identity to you then. But I'll leave you to think about one thing: What if you know me outside of my mask?" And with that, he gently drops my hand and makes his way towards the window.

"Wait! You can't just leave like that!" I absentmindedly call out, unsure of my purpose in doing so. I don't want to figure out his identity; why am I saying this?

I watch as he turns to look at me. "Nice pun by the way," he says, winking and then climbing out of my window and leaving.

I'm left alone with my thoughts.

"Well, that was unexpected," Tikki suddenly exclaims, flying towards me and making me jump. Where did she come from?

"Tikki! I forgot you were here!" She giggles, shaking her head slightly before turning serious.

"Marinette, that was a close one. It made me wonder about whether you should've let him reveal his identity to you," she says, a thoughtful look on her face.

My eyes go wide. "Wait what?" Out of everyone that could ever tell me this, it's Tikki? Tikki wants me to know Cat Noir beneath the mask?

"It's only Cat Noir, right? If you two revealed yourselves to each other, it probably wouldn't hurt, because you're keeping the same secret. In fact since you two understand each other so much it may even help your relationship grow."

She has a point, I'm not going to lie. But am I ready to reveal myself to Cat Noir? Am I ready to put aside all of my insecurities and tell him that I'm his partner in crime? Do I have the confidence for that?

At this point in time, my answer to those questions is probably not.

"Tikki, you know I can't let that happen. I don't have the confidence. Besides, it's not essential to reveal my identity. It's not like my life depends on it. I have plenty of time to tell him who I really am."

But something in the back of my mind tells me that revealing who I am isn't going to be a choice.

And that it's going to happen sooner rather than later.

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A/N:

Heyyyy soooooo I know how much a lot of you love Marichat so I thought why the heck not am I right?

Omg tho we're actually so freaking close to the big reveal I couldn't be more excited to write it like I'm under so much pressure to do a good job tho so imma be editing it like crazy before I actually publish it 😂😂

Btw I'd love to know which ships you want to see more of before the reveal because I wanna make sure you all get your fix of your favourite ship :)

Anyway I had a lot of fun writing this chapter so I hope you had a lot of fun reading it :D

Aaaaaaanndddd I'll see you in the next chapter!

-Belle