Blushing Miraculous

The Not-So-Secret Secret

Chat Noir made his way back home quickly. He jumped through the open window in his room and landed on the floor. "Claws in," he said, detransforming into Adrien. He put the carry-out bag on the table by the couch and then went over to his bed. He plopped down face first.

His kwami Plagg wasted no time digging into the bag. "Pastries!" he exclaimed. He started taking bites of different desserts. "If you want any food I suggest grabbing something now before I finish the whole bag," he called out to Adrien.

Adrien groaned and flipped over. "How am I supposed to eat right now Plagg? I feel awful. Poor Marinette is in love with me!"

"Well yeah," he replied, continuing to devour the food.

Adrien sat straight up and looked at him. "Wait, you knew that she was in love with me?"

"Of course I knew. I thought everyone knew," he replied, matter-of-factly.

"I didn't know!"

"Well, you should learn to pay attention," Plagg said.

Adrien balked at him. "But, how did you figure it out?"

"Oh come on, Adrien. Just look at her. Her face turns bright red every time you get close to her. Plus there's all that stammering and awkward moving. I mean, she even tried to kiss a statue of you at the museum. What other clues do you need?"

Adrien put both hands over his face and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that?" Plagg asked.

Adrien removed his hands. "I said I get it. I'm an idiot."

"Yup," Plagg replied.

Neither of them said anything for a couple of minutes. "So you think other people know?" Adrien asked.

"I'm pretty sure that everyone knows. Nino, Alya, Chloé, Kagami, Nathalie, your teachers, everyone!"

"Ugh, what am I supposed to do Plagg?"

"What do you mean? You're not supposed to do anything. Just keep pretending that you're as oblivious as always. I mean, you can't exactly tell her how you found out about it."

Adrien sighed. "I feel so horrible, I called her my 'friend' today at school. She must be devastated," he said, covering his face again.

"It's okay, kid," Plagg said, finally coming over to him. "Marinette will be fine."

"I hope so," Adrien mumbled. "Alright, let me try some of the food."

"Well, about that..." Plagg said.

************************************

As soon as Adrien arrived to school the next morning he ran up to the side of the building. He carefully made his way to the door and peered around it, looking into the courtyard.

"Whatcha doing?" Plagg asked, popping out of his shirt.

Adrien jumped slightly. "Er, I'm just looking for Marinette."

"You know that you can't tell her anything."

"Yeah, I know. I won't say anything. I was hoping to avoid her actually," Adrien said.

"Well that's real nice. First you break her heart, now you're avoiding her..."

"It's not like that, Plagg," he interrupted. "I just want to stay out of her way for a couple of days until she's feeling better. I don't want her to feel worse than she's already feeling."

He peered back around the door and spotted Marinette talking with Alya and Nino. The bell rang a moment later. "Come on, let's get to class." Plagg disappeared back into his shirt as he made his way inside the building.

Adrien kept his head down as he walked into class and sat in his seat. He didn't dare look back at the girl sitting behind him.

Nino leaned over. "Hey dude, how's it going?"

"Fine," Adrien replied.

Nino was about to say something else but Ms. Bustier started teaching.

When class was over Adrien quickly got up and went to chemistry. Once seated he took out his notebook and started rewriting his notes. He was trying to look busy so he wasn't sucked into any conversations.

Adrien avoided talking to Marinette, and all of his other friends, throughout the day. After the final bell he quickly went down to the front steps. Of course this was the one day his bodyguard didn't arrive early to pick him up. He moved around to the side of the building so he wouldn't be seen by the other students as they left. Eventually he saw Marinette, Alya and Nino walk out. They stopped on the sidewalk, continuing to talk.

Gorilla finally pulled up to the curb with the car. But the three friends weren't moving. Adrien couldn't wait there forever so he decided to make a run for it.

Hurrying out from around the building, he ran straight for the car. Just as he reached the area where his friends were chatting, Marinette waved goodbye and turned to walk home. He collided right into her, knocking her to the ground. Adrien managed to stay on his feet.

She stared up at him for a second before Adrien spoke. "Oh my gosh Marinette, I'm so sorry!" He reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her up. When she was back on her feet they were only inches apart from each other.

She looked at him as her cheeks blushed furiously. "D... don't w... worry about it, I'm kay, uh, okay," she said, stepping back.

"Are you sure that you're... ouch!" Nino tried to say before Alya punched him in the arm.

"Oh look at the time! We should get going," Alya said, dragging her boyfriend away with her.

Adrien watched them leave, then looked back at Marinette. He noticed her red-stained cheeks. "You sure that you're okay?" he asked.

Before she could respond they heard a familiar voice. "Adrien! Marinette!"

They both turned to see Kagami running over to them.

"Kagami! What... what are you doing here?" Adrien asked, surprised to see his girlfriend. He glanced over at Marinette, who was looking at the ground.

"I came to surprise you," Kagami said. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go get smoothies with me."

"Oh, um... yeah, I guess we can do that," he said, hesitantly. He hated the fact that Marinette was hearing this conversation.

Kagami turned towards her. "Hey Marinette, why don't you come with us!"

Marinette looked between Kagami and Adrien. "Oh no, I can't," she said.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Kagami insisted.

"No, really. I, uh, have to go help my parents in the bakery, so I can't. But you two go, and have fun." She attempted a weak smile.

"Alright, well I guess I'll see you at band practice on Saturday?" Kagami asked.

Marinette blinked back tears. "Right. Saturday," she said, nodding. She spun around and walked towards her house.

"Bye Marinette!" Kagami called after her. As she moved further away, Kagami leaned over to Adrien. "Is Marinette okay? She seems upset."

"Oh, um..." Adrien stuttered. "Er, Luka broke up with her."

"Oh no, how horrible!" Kagami said. "She must be heartbroken."

"Yeah, she is," Adrien replied quietly.