((HERE I GO GUYS I GOT PERMISSION TOO YAY!))
He hadn’t realized that there would be…side effects…from becoming Chat Noir and bonding with a creature that was basically a cat god on a daily basis. When he first realized it, he had to stop himself from playfully batting Ladybug’s twin tails or from swatting at her yo-yo when they were just sitting on a roof, chatting, and she was swinging it just to have something to do. Since then, though, these…tendencies had only grown stronger.
The glowing red light on the board was incredibly enticing.
Adrien wanted to reach out and capture it. That little red light was his, dammit. Not only was it right there, so close to him and yet so far, but it was also red like his lady. Anything tiny and cute and mildly reminiscent of Ladybug was instantly something he coveted, and having the attention span of a cat when it came to things like laser pointers was extremely difficult to deal with.
He stopped focusing on the lecture. All of his good luck for the month was wasted on this moment, because the lecture material was entirely made up of things he had learned while home schooled, since it was physics and one of his passions. Rather than following the words, like most of his classmates, Adrien followed the little red dot with his eyes.
His eyes were slits as he watched the light pause, flickering in the same spot for a few moments before moving again.
Marinette’s late night, working on designs and homework and trying not to stress about Adrien and the stupid thing she’d said to him the day before, didn’t help her focus, and physics was already her worst subject. She barely had the motivation to keep taking notes, let alone listen to the droning lecture.
Instead, she starts to follow the red dot, and idly grins at what it would do to Chat Noir if he were in her class. He would probably be tormented by the light flitting across the screen–or, if he was a class clown, laser pointers were probably already banned in his lectures. The Chat she knew wouldn’t hesitate to leap at the red dot.
To keep herself from giggling, Marinette vigorously rubbed her bleary eyes and tried to focus on the lecture again. This time, though, her eyes drifted down to the blond model that sat in front of her.
Adrien was sitting up, slowly. After a few moments she noticed that his shoulders were tense, and she made a mental note to ask him about it later if she could manage to get the words out. As class wore on, he only grew more and more tense, and she furrowed her brows in concern.
What happened next was something she had not been prepared for.
Slowly, as if he’d been calculating, Adrien rose just a few inches from his chair. She thought he was going to leave for the bathroom or a photoshoot, but then she realized that he was still leaning over his desk.
And then his butt wiggled.
Like a cat getting ready to pounce.
Marinette was used to seeing an ass covered in leather doing that exact same wiggle as Chat Noir prepared to take a leap, and it took every ounce of self-restraint the designer had in her entire body to keep from letting out a strangled yell at the sudden recognition. It hit her like a ton of bricks, and she swallowed the hard knot in her throat as she watched Adrien wiggle his butt right in front of her.
Any other day, she would have found that incredibly adorable of him, but now she was too stunned to think straight.
As she stared at his back, fear shot down her spine when every muscle in his body tensed.
It was only with sheer luck and quick reflexes that Marinette managed to lunge silently forward as he prepared to spring, slipping two fingers through his belt loop and pulling him back down to his seat. It was something she usually did by yanking on his tail, but she had gone for the next available option. Not only would it be super embarrassing for him to act so much like a cat in class, but it could potentially jeopardize his identity.
Adrien reached up to scratch the back of his neck and turned around to sheepishly give Marinette the same smile that Chat Noir always gave Ladybug. Her heart nearly stopped beating when he froze, eyes widening and flicking around the classroom in terror before finally resting on her.
Despite the fact that it was Adrien Agreste before her, Marinette gave her sternest Ladybug expression, hoping to communicate with her eyes just how much trouble she had just saved him from.
We need to talk, Kitty, she said with her eyes, narrowing them in disapproval.
The damn cat in front of her had the nerve to pout. With Adrien’s face. Her heart started racing a mile a minute as she sat back and motioned for him to turn to the front. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks, and she was only thankful that no one seemed to have noticed the exchange.
Well…no one but Nino and Alya. When she looked around, Nino was raising an eyebrow at Adrien and Alya was gaping confusedly at Marinette. The redhead then frowned and started scribbling furiously on a piece of paper she had torn from her notebook. The petite designer caught Nino passing Adrien a note as well, eyes curious and playful behind his glasses.
Even as her eyes scanned across the note Alya slipped her moments later–Okay, girl, something’s going on and I need to know exactly what THAT was. You. Me. Your place. After school–Marinette could barely think about anything but the fact that her crush, the boy she fancied herself in love with, was none other than her magical crime-fighting partner, who fancied himself in love with her.
I’m in love with Adrien but I keep pushing away Chat Noir and Chat Noir’s in love with Ladybug me but doesn’t notice Marinette me but I am Ladybug and Chat Noir is Adrien so does that still mean he’s in love with me and I’m in love with him or…?
Her own thought process was jumbled and Marinette didn’t have the capacity to sort it out. She noted that he was staring pointedly down and listening to the lecture now, avoiding the red light of doom at all costs, and she couldn’t help as her eyes traced the contours of his shoulders. How she’d never realized the similarities between Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste when she spent so much time staring was still a huge surprise. In fact, she spent most of her time dwelling on that instead of the fact that oh my God I just grabbed Adrien by his BELT LOOP because if she didn’t, her face would be on fire.
He’d have to tutor her in physics to pay her back for missing the entire lecture and all the information she vaguely heard would be on the next test. It was only fair.
She most definitely didn’t keep replaying the very Chat Noir butt wiggle in her head, and her cheeks certainly didn’t burn as she dropped her head on her arms to muffle a groan.
Little did Marinette know that it was taking everything Adrien had not to turn around and stare at her as if she was the entire world.
