Adrien couldn't stop thinking about what Marinette had said.

Her words plagued his mind—even in his dreams. He found himself totally engrossed in trying to figure out how Marinette had known he'd been in America. Adrien questioned Nino about it first, who seemed just as confused—if not even more confused—than he was. He even asked Alya, who clearly got offended by his implication that she had gone and told Marinette who he was.

So, he came to the conclusion that neither of them had told her. That only left him with two other options.

Either Marinette had heard about it from the press (considering he was famous even though he'd tried to be as discreet about his move as possible), or Marinette was Ladybug.

As Adrien pondered over the options he'd considered carefully, he was starting to think the second option could actually be true. The more he thought about the possibility of the two most important women in his life actually being the same woman, the more he started to panic. What if he was right and Marinette was Ladybug? If that were the case, then that would mean the entire time he had dated Marinette, he also dated Ladybug.

And it also meant that Marinette knew he was Chat Noir.

Adrien tried not to let his panic show. He didn't have any proof that any of this was even true—but the theory still haunted his mind nonetheless. He found himself slowly lumbering around in Marinette's apartment hoping he looked discreet, his sense always on alert and his sight usually focused on Marinette as he watched her every move. His hope had been to catch anything that might hint at him that she was indeed Ladybug. But Marinette seemed to catch on that she was being watched. She started to meet his eyes across the room, a single brow raised as she simply stared at him closely. He never averted his eyes whenever their gazes crossed. He didn't want to seem intimated. But then, Marinette smiled at him, and her smile looked anything from one that was meant to be welcoming and warm. Oh no, she was smirking at him.

As if she were saying: you know who I am, huh? I'm eager to see what you're gonna do about it.

He was too scared to approach her with the question, even if he might be wrong. If he was right, that meant Marinette probably loathed him... and the fact that she had even welcomed him into her home to begin with, or hadn't kicked him out yet, was a surprise all on its own.

If he was still alive and breathing, he supposed that was a good sign.

"Plagg... I think Marinette and Ladybug are the same person."

He voiced his thoughts to Plagg one night after everyone had gone to sleep. His kwami had been disgustingly nose deep into a piece of camembert when he looked up suddenly, no sign of any emotion etched into his features when he decided to respond after a moment of silence had stretched between them. "What makes you think that?"

"Marinette said something to me the other day that... only Ladybug would've known." The blonde said slowly as he recollected the moment. It scared him the more the memory continued to repeat in his head.

Plagg seemed completely disinterested. "So?" He was back to nibbling on his cheese.

"What do you mean 'so'? Don't you find that suspicious?"

His kwami had shrugged to that, never providing an answer for that question as he continued to slowly devour his precious camembert all the while savoring each bite.

The next morning hadn't been any better for him. Adrien was awoken early to the sound of Marinette grounding coffee at some ungodly hour in the morning. He threw his pillow over his head and groaned quietly, hoping that he could fall back asleep, but Marinette seemed to have different intensions for him. She woke him up, much to his displeasure, and offered him a mug of coffee.

He was hesitant, but he took it from her gratefully nonetheless.

After all, he didn't know if it was poisoned or not.

"I think I'm going to quit my job today."

That was her introduction for their conversation this time around. Not a 'good morning' like most people would say or the following question asking how he had slept that night. He had to admit, her conversation openers were oddly questionable, but he found himself slowly relaxing since the atmosphere that Marinette had created between them seemed to be a safe one.

Unless she was waiting at the right moment to strike.

"Why?" Adrien asked as he took a sip from his mug. "Don't you like it?"

"Sure I do." Marinette responded with a shrug. "But working for Gabriel has become a lot on my plate, especially since I've already got my own business on the side."

That seemed to take Adrien by surprise. He hadn't known that Marinette had worked for his father. Why hadn't his father ever mentioned that to him? "Wait... you work for my father?" He asked, and he was sure the tone of his voice clearly radiated disbelief.

"You didn't know?" She turned to look at him, confused, as if she had expected him to already know this. He shook his head, genuinely surprised by the news. "Well yeah... I've been working for him as a designer for a while now. But I have my own line right now which is directly under my business and has no correlation with Gabriel, and I really want to focus on that."

Adrien couldn't help the smile that slowly tugged at the corners of his lips as he listened to Marinette. He was extremely proud of her—not only for accomplishing her dreams and for getting the opportunity to work under his father, but for being able to become her own image without his father's help. Just like him, Marinette had dreams that she had conquered, and she seemed incredibly happy to have done so—if the soft smile pulling at her lips as she explained it to him was anything to go by.

What he didn't understand though... is why she was telling him this.

"I'm happy for you, Marinette. That's great." Adrien said, and he really meant it. "But why are you telling me this? And at four in the morning?"

She shrugged, looking away from him, which hid her face—along with her emotions—from him. "Because I wanted your opinion, obviously. You know about the fashion industry more than I do. You've been in it longer than I have, which means you have better experience than me. So I wanted to know if it would be a good idea."

"Oh..." Honestly he was surprised Marinette was even asking for his opinion. "Well in that case, yes! You should definitely do it. Go for it."

The small smile she offered him brightened his whole morning. "Plus... I couldn't sleep." She admitted, her eyes slowly falling down to her cup. "These thoughts were really keeping me up, so thank you for your help, Adrien."

Adrien returned her smile, and they two of them spent the rest of their morning conversating until tired, little Emilie came down the hall, rubbing at her eyes with a yawn as she struggled to snuggle into her mother's lap. The action caused Marinette to almost spill her coffee, which she was thankfully able to save from a spill. She set her mug on the coffee table and accepted her daughter with open arms, which had Adrien's smile widening by the second.

"I should take her back to bed." Marinette said softly as she stood from her spot on the couch. Adrien found himself standing as well, as if to follow her to their daughter's room as if they were a family about to tuck her in together, but he quickly stopped himself from doing so. Marinette didn't seem to notice his intensions. In fact, she offered him one last smile before she thanked him again and headed down the dark hallway with their little girl in her arms.

He watched them leave, and his heart felt heavy.

But his stomach fluttered nonetheless.

When Adrien woke up again, it was well past noon. He could hear voices all around the room, and even Emma's excited, little voice could be heard. He tried to contain his smile as he slowly sat up, running a hand through his hair as a lame attempt to tame his mane of wild hair. When he opened his eyes, however, they widened in absolute shock when they landed on an all-too-familiar person whom he hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Oh hey, Adrien. You're awake!" Nino had been the one to address him with a wide smile. All of his friends were seated in the dining room. Nino and Alya were seated at the table with Emma, and on the barstools at the island sat Marinette and... Luka Couffaine. They were all staring back at him, each with their own amused smile directed at him. "Look who decided to stop by!"

Adrien did two things as he studied his surroundings. The first thing he did was blink several times, trying to make sure that the scene presented before him wasn't just a dream—or well... an unwelcomed nightmare—plaguing him while he slept. The second thing he did was narrow his eyes at Luka's hand... which was resting on the back of Marinette's barstool.

He didn't like that. Mhm. Not one bit.

"Hey Adrien." Luka broke the silence with a gentle smile when it seemed as if Adrien wasn't planning on greeting him first—which was a correct assumption to make. Adrien and Luka had once been really good friends, but right now, Adrien was more concerned and annoyed about the fact that Luka was a little too close to Marinette for his liking.

"Hey..." Adrien replied rather idly, his gaze still entirely focused on Luka's hand.

Luka seemed to take Adrien's response as a friendly introduction to reuniting. "It's good to see you. It's been forever. How have you been?"

"Fine..." But what a lie that was. In fact, Adrien found himself almost about ready to break out into tears as he watched Luka's hand move from the back of Marinette's barstool to rest along Marinette's waist.

Much to his relief, Marinette didn't seem to like the physical contact. She stood up from her barstool, leaving Luka behind as she moved towards Adrien carefully. "Are you okay? I think you went pale."

"What?" He found himself almost unable to properly breathe when he realized Marinette had kneeled down to his level, searching his eyes intensely. He dumbly blinked at her. He couldn't even form a proper sentence just to assure her that he was fine.

"You looked like you were about to pass out." Marinette said.

He blinked at her again, his cheeks flushing when he realized just how embarrassing he was making himself out to be.

"Ah there it is." Marinette smiled, seemingly relieved. "You've got your color back now."

If she kept smiling at him like that, there was a pretty good chance he would faint on the spot.

"You okay, dude?" Nino asked him from across the room.

Adrien nodded, forcing himself to stand on his feet. He extended his hand down to Marinette, who took it without hesitation, and he helped her to her feet. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think I'm just still tired... that's all."

For some reason, Marinette didn't let go of his hand right away. Instead, she squeezed it, and started to tug him towards the kitchen. "Maybe you should get something to eat. We have some pizza still if you want some."

Adrien was more focused on Marinette's hand in his, he hardly had a second to spare on the thought of pizza. Thankfully, his rumbling stomach helped remind him that food was pretty important too.

"Yeah..." He breathed out audibly, relieved that Marinette was still holding his hand as she guided him to a barstool. A part of him felt a sense of pride well up in his chest when Adrien happened to catch Luka glance down at their conjoined hands. "That'd be great."

Marinette let go of his hand as soon as he sat down, and Adrien had to admit he definitely missed her touch. But as he watched her move around the kitchen, quickly gathering a couple of pieces of pizza on a plate for him, he found himself completely mesmerized with every cautious movement she made. Most people who stared at someone they loved as much as he did would definitely be considered a simp in Nino's eyes, and of course, out the corner of Adrien's eye, he could easily make out his best friend smirking at him—which only confirmed Nino had already labeled Adrien as a simp in his head. But Adrien didn't care. In all honestly, anything Marinette did he found insanely attractive.

And apparently... Luka seemed to have some very similar thoughts as his. Because the guitarist was also staring at Marinette just as fondly.

Adrien forced himself not to glare at the guy beside him. Instead, he ground his teeth, his jaw fixing as he forced himself to keep his cool. He didn't even have a right to be so jealous anyway. It wasn't as if Marinette was his.

Not yet, at least. But she would be again hopefully soon.

"So... Adrien, how was your time away?" Luka asked, seemingly purely out of genuine interest. It occurred to Adrien that the only person in the room who didn't know he had been in the states was Luka himself, so that thought in itself was enough to have Adrien smiling again.

"It was pretty good for the most part." Adrien supplied, his eyes slowly drifting over towards Marinette. She looked up from her plate just in time for their eyes to connect, and when he was sure he had her attention, he added softly, "But I definitely missed home."

He didn't miss the way Marinette's eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"I bet." Luka chuckled, oblivious to their interaction. "It's the same for me. Playing in a band around the world is great and all, but Paris will always be home."

"Is that why you're back?" Adrien asked, leaning his chin in his palm.

Luka chuckled airily, his shoulders shaking with the soft movement. "Something like that." His eyes then also wandered over to Marinette, who thankfully, was too busy serving her daughter another slice of pizza to look up. Adrien mentally fist bumped the air for that.

He did, however, spare a glance between them both, which had him slowly frowning the longer he continued to stare. From the way Luka kept admiring Marinette, he was starting to wonder if perhaps he had ever done more than that.

So... Adrien decided to be blunt and ask. "Are you two together?"

Marinette let out a choked cough. Adrien didn't turn around to see what her expression might be.

Luka's smile was wide as he shook his head. "No. Well... not anymore. We used to be, if that's what you're asking."

The blonde cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It didn't work out?"

Thank god it hadn't, he found his mind telling him.

Luka shook his head again, a sad smile pulling at his lips, and that was enough to end the conversation for good.

But even despite this truth... it was hard to miss every single subtle advance Luka tried to make—even though none of his advances were very discreet. They all ended up hanging out for the rest of the day, and Luka had been invited (by Nino, of course) to stay for their movie night, which was disappointing to say the least when the guitarist readily agreed.

Adrien did not enjoy movie night. In fact, he sat at the very end of the couch, watching out the corner of his eye as Luka and Marinette sat right beside each other, sharing a bowl of popcorn as they both seemed to be enjoying the movie in front of them. Alya and Nino seemed to also be enjoying it just as much. But he was not.

He was probably pouting, and it was probably obvious, but he didn't care.

Emma had wanted to sit beside him though. Which was sweet, he had to admit.

"Do you like this movie?"

Of course, watching a movie with a four-year-old also meant that there was bound to be some whispering throughout the film. But he didn't mind it. Her wanting to talk to him meant that he could be perfectly distracted from thinking about Marinette and Luka, all the while getting to spend some time with his daughter... even if she didn't know yet that he was her dad.

"Not really." Adrien admitted. It was a movie he had already seen, after all.

"Me too." Emma whispered with a heavy pout. "It's boring."

Adrien chuckled softly at that. Anything not cartoon was probably boring for her.

Emma leaned her head against his forearm, causing his eyes to widen.

"Do you like my mama?"

He almost choked on his saliva... and he would've too, had it not been for the fact that he was already too shocked by Emma's previous actions to want to be closer to him.

He forced himself to swallow and collect his thoughts. He thought of his answer carefully before he responded in a low whisper. "Of course I do."

He wasn't sure what type of like Emma was implying, but he wasn't about to lie.

Emma hummed thoughtfully. "So does that mean you're going to marry her?"

Ah. So that kind of like. He should've figured.

But he wasn't prepared for her question, and that time, Adrien really did choke on his saliva. All eyes turned to him in concern.

"I'm fine." He waved them all off with a nervous chuckle, even as Marinette specifically shot him a concerned look. Her eyes seemed to soften though when she realized her daughter was leaned against him, and Adrien found himself matching her smile.

When she turned her attention back to the movie, Adrien cleared his throat softly. "Why do you think I'm going to marry your mama?"

"Because you love her." Emma said as if it were really that simple. "Don't people marry if they love each other?"

Adrien chuckled somewhat sadly. Her naivety was rather adorable. "You think your mama loves me?"

"Oh, I know she does." His daughter turned to look up at him with a very serious look on her face. "Can't you tell?"

Adrien found himself slowly frowning as he thought about his daughter's words. He slowly glanced over at Marinette once more, hoping his staring was discreet as he watched a huge smile pull at her lips when something funny in the movie flashed on the screen. Everyone in the room started laughing, and Adrien found himself completely entranced in... her... just by the sound of her angelic laughter. She seemed genuinely happy, a sight that had him smiling softly the more he observed her. But no, genuinely, it was hard for him to tell if Marinette still had feelings for him. It wasn't exactly as if he could ask—at least, not without Plagg's help—and even then, Marinette rejecting Chat Noir definitely outweighed her accepting him back.

Plus, if his assumptions were correct, and Marinette and Ladybug were actually the same person, his tact for approaching her as Chat would be useless because she would already know his secret identity. And if she already knew his secret identity now, it was only a matter of time before she approached him with the subject.

Unless he approached her first.

But how could he approach her first if he wasn't even sure if she knew?

Sadly, Adrien shook his head, his gaze still fixated on Marinette. "No... I can't tell."

Luka quickly moved once again, and Adrien had the unfortunate opportunity to watch him throw an arm over the back of the couch... which obviously didn't stay there. He lowered it so that his arm was now wrapped around her shoulders, and either Marinette was too absorbed into the movie to notice, or she simply didn't mind the contact. Either way, the sight had his frown deepening.

That move... well, Adrien was the master at that move.

Emma watched the scene as well, it seemed. "You don't have to be jealous. Mama doesn't like Luka anymore. She probably never did."

Adrien turned to face her, a bit shocked considering what he was witnessing was hard to ignore. "And you're sure about that?"

Emma nodded excitedly, a grin quickly tugging at her lips. "You know what girls do when they really like a boy? Like... like him for real?"

Adrien found himself matching her grin, amused. "What do they do?"

"They try to make them jealous." Emma said as she giggled behind the palm of her hand. "And it seems Mama's plan to make you jealous is working."

Adrien could only gape at the little girl in front of him, his gaze quickly whipping over towards Marinette once more. Sure enough, Marinette was already looking at him, and when their eyes met, a fond smirk found it's way to her lips. Nothing needed to be said as she raised a single brow at him which was meant to look innocent, popping a popcorn kettle into her mouth.

He found himself smiling at her, even despite his confusion and unease.

She knew something. She was playing some sort of game with him, trying to confuse him or perhaps get him to make the first move. Maybe she really did know that he was Chat Noir, and instead of giving him the easy option and confronting him, she was making it harder for him by leaving him in suspicion and for teasing him in more ways than just flirtatiously.

He pressed his lips together into a thin line.

Adrien was nervous for what could unfold from all of this... but he was determined to win this game.

_______________________________

So soon? Yes because writing is therapeutic and I need it.

Tune in for chapter 10 (I'm on a roll so... maybe tomorrow? I don't know, we'll see) where Ladybug meets up with Chat Noir to properly make amends and let go of the grudges she's held against him for so long. A few more hints are thrown around regarding their identities, because of course, both him and Marinette are determined to be the winner to their silly game.

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