The Scarf for Two

8 - Just a friend?

Warning! Some minor spoilers from "Troublemaker".

She denied everything. Marinette denied everything. When he talked to her in the locker room the next day after the fight against Troublemaker, she turned everything into a joke, mixing the words by the way. Adrien didn't know what to think. He couldn't understand why she had acted so weirdly to him again. After all, when he'd visited her as Cat Noir, she behaved completely differently.

He still didn't know what his pictures in her bedroom could mean, but – little by little – he didn't care. He focused on getting to know Marinette, who turned out to be a slightly different girl than he thought. He even had the impression that he was dealing with two people – a charmingly clumsy schoolmate and an ironic funny computer game maniac. And it was still one and the same person.

Worse, he noticed that he was becoming a little addicted to her company. He liked her sense of humour, he liked what she was telling him about the game she played, about school, about dress design and sewing. But the most, he liked when she teased him. Really, he didn't know her from this side. And he liked this side more and more.

He began to sneak out to her every evening – as Cat Noir, of course. She never let him feel he was bothering her. On the contrary, they both got into the world of Ashan and accompanied Agrael on his journey.

"Evening, Purrincess!" he welcomed Marinette, as usual, landing on her balcony. "How's your Agrael?"

"I'm pretty sure that he's not a demon." She replied with a smile, turning around to him, as if she was waiting for him. "One druid has just been surprised, because Agrael touched the Heart of the Griffin and that should take him to Sheogh, but it didn't. And Tieru was intrigued by this. So, that means I was right!"

"Wait, Purrincess! What a druid? What a Heart of the Griffin? And what a Sheogh?"

Marinette giggled.

"Oh, I can see you're interested in the plot as well, Kitty?"

"No, I'm not!" Cat Noir denied, blushing when he heard her calling him 'Kitty'. Marinette didn't notice his blush and began explaining:

"The Heart of the Griffin is a very strong artefact that sends all demons back to their world, which is called Sheogh. It's stupid, because the Demon Sovereign gets back all his army. It's like Ladybug and you sent all previous super-villains back to Hawkmoth."

"And the 'Tieru' thing?"

"He's a druid. I like him..." Marinette whispered and added quickly: "I mean as a character! He and Agrael have a sense of humour I like."

"I have a sense of humour as well!" Cat Noir replied jealously.

"Oh, Kitty! Your jokes are silly. And they are more ironically funny. Wait, I'll show you one of the latest dialogues. Come on in."

And she took his hand and led him to her room.

The first thing he noticed, was that all the walls were empty. It looked like Marinette had taken off all Adrien's pictures.

"Oh, you're not interested in fashion anymore?" escaped from Cat Noir, before he thought about it.

"What?" Marinette looked at him in astonishment.

"W-Well... I meant..." he stuttered, perfectly aware of his blunder. "W-well... You removed all those pictures of that model..."

"Yeah, well..." Marinette blushed suddenly. "Recently I've discovered I'm more opened. I mean... For new designs! I mean... I'm more creative."

"Oh, I got it." He sighed, surprised that he became sad. What was happening to him? Why did he suddenly care for Marinette's room to be full of his photos?

And then he looked at her desk. There was a picture in the frame that they had – quite recently – made during a trip to Disneyland – all them four: Marinette, Nino, Alya and he, as Adrien, not as Cat Noir, of course. It was probably the most wonderful day in his life.

"It's great to have such friends..." he whispered to himself.

Marinette came up to him, put her hand on his shoulder and hugged him very gently.

"Do you have any friends, Cat?" She asked quietly, glancing at him sideways.

"I do. I have." he whispered with a strange hoarseness in his voice. "You're my friend, Purrincess."

She giggled straight at his shoulder, and he felt a strange chill that ran over his back. He didn't have ticklish!

"Yes, Cat. I think I am your friend."

Was it, or wasn't it lined with some sort of insinuation? And suddenly he remembered their conversation about the fact that all the boys treated her like 'just a friend'. She'd asked him then how to treat his visits to her. And he then blurted out one of the biggest nonsenses in his life.

***

Marinette felt like she was on the emotional rollercoaster. In the past two weeks, she had experienced more turnarounds than during her entire life. At first, Adrien broke her heart with his confessions to Kagami, then Luka showed his interest to her, and then he let her chase after her own happiness, which was slipping from her. And then there was a public catastrophe, after which everyone learned about her feelings for Adrien – including Adrien, who apparently didn't care much because he maintained their friendly relationship as if nothing had happened. And then Cat Noir appeared on her balcony, in her room, in her civilian life...

It wasn't like she didn't know him. After all, he had been her partner for a year and a half since they fought with the villains sent by Hawkmoth. But... It wasn't Cat Noir she had known as Ladybug. As Marinette she had the opportunity to know him from the other, unknown side. It was as if he was able to show the depth of his personality only to her civilian form. He didn't swagger in front of her like he used to do in front of Ladybug, he didn't show off, he didn't try to pick her up. He was just a normal boy. Apart from the small detail of being a superhero, of course...

And finally, she discovered that she liked this boy more and more – his sense of humour without those unbearable cat puns, his brilliant mind not distracting by flirting with Ladybug... Well, it turned out they had a lot in common. Not only the scarf for a superhero.

Oh! The scarf! She totally forgot about it! It had been two weeks now, and she didn't touch the work since that unlucky day. She spent the evenings with Cat Noir, playing the old computer game, and the only activity that she found determination was cleaning up the room from Adrien's photos. She left only one souvenir – the photo from Disneyland, where they had been all four friends, and Adrien was just himself there, not a famous model.

"You do realise, how it looks?" Tikki asked in a serious tone.

"How looks what?" Marinette didn't understand, standing by her desk and crumpling the green fabric.

"Your putting off this work for later subconsciously."

"Do you think I do it subconsciously?" The girl was surprised.

"You do it intentionally?!" kwami exclaimed.

"It's quite possible, Tikki. Quite possible..." Marinette smiled mysteriously.