"Just a Friend?" Book 1 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy (MLB FanFic) |COMPLETED|

Chpt 20: So many secrets. Shhh!

Tuesday came around again, and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng sipped tea and pondered the changes she saw in Cat Noir while he talked to her about his week. He seemed much more animated, yet also more relaxed. A lot . . . happier. She wondered what was behind the changes. She was pretty certain it was more than just this weekly chat with her, though she was glad that it seemed to be helping him. She had learned a lot about him, more than he probably realized. More than she guessed that he was supposed to reveal to anyone. And, most likely this change involved a girl. Hmmm. . .

Cat Noir finished what he was saying to her and looked at the clock on the wall, noticing that it was almost time for Adrien to show up. "Thanks so much! I'll see you next week!" he said to Marinette's mom. He bounded up the stairs with a wave to her.

He knocked on Marinette's door. "Come in," she said. Marinette was facing away from him and rummaging around in her bag when he entered.

"Bye, Marinette!" he called to her as headed to the roof. He didn't think he trusted himself to get too close to her yet when he was Cat Noir. He would be so tempted to kiss her, which would only confuse her. Well, he thought it should confuse her anyway.

"Cat?" Marinette called up to him, wondering why he didn't stay a few minutes to talk like he normally did. She went up onto the roof, but he was already gone. She couldn't see him anywhere even. "That was strange," she said to herself.

Knowing that Adrien should be arriving in a few minutes, Marinette went downstairs to wait near the door. She saw her mom still at the table where she normally sat with Cat, seemingly preoccupied with some thought. "Mom, what was with Cat Noir? He hurried out with hardly a goodbye."

Her mom looked at her, interested to add that bit of information to the rest. "I think he's in love."

"In love? But, we already know that he's in love with Ladybug. He said as much before. Why would that make a difference now?" asked Marinette, completely confused.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," she said mysteriously.

"Huh," said Marinette, wondering what it was that her mom suspected. Marinette was just about to ask her mom some more questions when the doorbell rang. She opened it and let Adrien in. Her mom and Adrien exchanged greetings and Marinette took Adrien's hand, leading him upstairs.

Adrien set his stuff down by the desk and pulled Marinette into his arms, kissing her. He'd been waiting to do that all afternoon. Some time later they stepped away from each other and got to work on their project. They were almost done with it, so it would be ready to turn in by the due date the next week. Then their scheduled weekly meetings would have to come to an end. He frowned at that and put it out of his head for the moment.

They stopped to take a break and both got lost in their own thoughts for a bit. Adrien started to think about how lucky he was that Plagg stepped in to help him move his relationship with Marinette forward. Who knew that grump was a romantic at heart? Adrien really loved spending time with Marinette and was so glad it wouldn't have to end now with the project. Though, he would have to figure out how he would get to keep seeing her regularly once his father was back. That might take some creativity on his part.

Marinette was thinking how much had changed over the last few weeks, with Cat coming to her house regularly and now Adrien, too. If anyone had told her that a month ago, she would have thought the person was crazy! This line of thought reminded her of how she had noticed Adrien heading to the rooftop on Tuesdays after school. She looked at him curiously.

"Adrien, can I ask you a weird question?" she said cautiously.

"Um, okay," he replied focusing his attention on her. He reached out and tucked a stray hair back behind her ear and then played with one of her pigtails.

"So a few weeks ago I happened to notice you heading up to the rooftop after school and then coming back down later. What were you doing?"

Adrien stopped moving and then brought his hand back to his side, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't really sure what to say. "I didn't think anyone had noticed that," he said, hoping no one but Marinette had. "And I'm sorry Marinette, but I can't tell you. It's something that no one can know. I'm sure that sounds really weird." He frowned slightly. He stupidly never came up with any story in case someone saw him. What could Marinette possibly think he would be doing up there?

She looked at him, knowing that she was probably keeping a much bigger secret from him, so she couldn't be mad at him for whatever this was. As weird as it seemed to be. "It's okay. I was just wondering. Everyone is entitled to some secrets, though I will be interested in hearing one day what you could possibly be doing on the roof or how you got off of it to do something else!" She tried to think of how to change the subject. She went for the reliable, "Snacks?"

He smiled at her, relieved she didn't seem to be mad. She was keeping the secret that Cat Noir came every Tuesday, though that wasn't as big of a secret as his. He also remembered how she had flirted with him when he was Cat Noir, but that was before their relationship changed, so he couldn't be mad about that, though he was strangely jealous as she'd never flirted with Adrien like that. Too much whirling in his head! But, all he said to her was "Snacks sound good," and they went downstairs to see what was in the kitchen.