Summary:Jealousy isn’t something Adrien is unfamiliar with, but he doesn't have any reason to be jealous now, he really doesn’t. Marinette is just his friend and it's not like he doesn’t know how friendly she is with everyone.
Even if Marinette has been spending a lot of time with a new boy; a boy none of them knows about who steals her away every day after school.
Adrien is not jealous. He is just…..worried.Yep, definitely not jealous at all.
The first time Adrien saw the guy was after a particularly grueling day at school: He had been tired all day because of an Akuma fight the night before, Nino was out sick, they had a surprise chemistry test and add to that the fact that he knew he wouldn’t get any rest since he had a photoshoot after school made it an awful day.
The only person that seemed to be having a worse day than him was Marinette but the thing is, Marinette seemed to be having a lot of those nowadays.
His bubbly friend, who usually brightened up the room with her presence alone, came to school with tired eyes and a smile that seemed a touch too practiced to be real. Her eyes usually tinged red, as if she hadn’t had proper sleep or had cried recently, looked away from his whenever he caught them and it worried Adrien.
He talked to Alya about it but she just assured him, with knowing eyes looking at him, that he needs to give it some time, that Marinette would be fine soon. So he did.
He still made sure to smile at her whenever he did manage to catch her eye since it seemed to make at least some sort of difference.
Anyways back to the guy, the first time Adrien saw him, he didn’t actually get to see him. All he saw was Marinette rushing past him to run into his arms; the guy then Marinette’s bag over his shoulder and they both walked away together.
“Do you know that guy?” Alya asked from beside him sounding a bit bewildered.
Adrien looked at where the couple disappeared around the corner of a street, “No idea.”
The next day was Saturday and they had planned to meet up at Alya’s place. Marinette canceled the plan to meet up at Alya’s, promised to make up for it, and told them she had someone she wanted them to meet.
On Monday, Adrien saw Marinette smile wide for the first time in ages as she ran down the stairs to meet the well-dressed boy waiting for them at the school entrance.
Something tightened in Adrien’s chest as he looked on, wondering why he wanted to pull her away from the boy. Probably because Adrien didn’t know him that well, he reasoned to himself, though that didn’t mean Marinette didn’t, rather it seemed like Marinette knew him very well since she was more at ease with him than she was ever around Adrien.
“Ooo, Mystery boy,” Alya grinned and grabbed Adrien’s arm pulling him with her as she strode towards the duo.
“Hey!” Alya called out, holding up a hand as they approached.
“Hello,” Adrien said in a bit lower tone as he pulled his arm away from Alya.
Marinette turned towards them at the sound and smiled, her eyes bright and happy.
The boy turned too, his hair fluttering across his forehead as he shifted his eyes from Marinette to Adrien and Alya, “Hey, You must be Alya and Adrien,” He smiled,” Marinette’s told me about you,” He shook Alya’s hand before holding out a hand that Adrien instinctively shook.
“I am Micheal, but my friends call me Mike or Mikey if it is Marinette,” With that, Mike waggled his eyebrows making Marinette roll her eyes fondly. The feeling inside his chest grew.
“Well, It's good to finally officially meet the guy who's been stealing the fourth member of our group”
Adrien said, mustering up a smile as he teased half-heartedly.
“Are you from around here?” Alya’s eyes inspected the newcomer as she asked and Adrien could almost imagine the cogs turning in her head as she tried to remember if they had met before.
“Nah,” Mike ran his fingers through his hair, “Just visiting family,” He then turned to Marinette,” Though I might consider staying if someone asks,”
Marinette made a face at him which just made Mike’s smile widen.
“You guys seem close,” Alya observed with a teasing smile.
“Oh, Marinette and I go way back,” The boy-Mike- waved a hand flippantly, “I visit her every year but I just couldn’t convince Mom to let me out of her sight ever since I got into a small accident,” He rolled his eyes.
“An accident that broke both your arm and a leg,” Marinette reminded him, looking unimpressed even as a hint of a smile played at her lips.
Mike threw his arm around Marinette’s shoulder pulling her into a side hug, “What's life without a little risk, Mia Netta. Which reminds me, shall we get going?”
“Get going?” Alya asked with furrowed eyebrows,” Go where?”
Adrien couldn’t keep his eyes off the arm still resting on Marinette’s shoulder, the hand playing with a ponytail as Mike hummed under his breath. He wondered if Marinette had any plans to push off the arm before he shook his head, it was Marinette’s shoulder, if she was okay with Mike putting an arm around her then he should be too.
“I promised I’d help Mike with his cooking experiment today,” Marinette told Alya, her eyes not meeting the reporters. He had a feeling he was missing something, though he couldn’t put a finger on it. He looked between the girls sensing an unspoken tension.
“But,” Alya began,” We’re supposed to have a girls night at Lila’s today.”
Marinette predictively looked uncomfortable at the name of the girl who had recently gotten her expelled, and if Adrien was correct, who hadn’t even apologized for it.
“I am sorry, Al, Maybe some other day? I made the plan with Mike long before the girls night thing came up, I did try to tell you in class,”
Alya took a deep breath, then sighed, “You did, didn’t you. Sorry, it's just that...after everything that's been going on, I was looking forward to it.”
“We can hang out tomorrow if you want?” Marinette offered quietly.
“But then Lila wouldn’t be able to come, you heard what she said about the charity meeting.”
Both friends looked at each other silently, at this point the new kid decided to jump on.
“So you can all hang out with the Lela girl today and with Marinette tomorrow,” Mike shrugged, putting his free hand in his pocket,” sounds like a good plan to me.”
Marinette looked up gratefully at Mike and Adrien kicked himself for not jumping in sooner. He could’ve diffused the tension if he wanted to but he was so used to letting the girls sort it all out between himself that he didn’t think to do anything. He mulled the thought over while he said goodbye to the girls and jumped into his car, he could see Marinette and Mike walk into the bakery as his car drove by.
He wondered if now that they had met Mike, Marinette would ask him to join their outings instead of running off with him; That would be a lot better, and maybe it would soothe the uneasy feeling he had whenever he saw her with him.
Every day, without a delay, Mike would be waiting for Marinette by the school stairway, they’d meet with happy smiles on their faces and go off to do something and there was something new every since day. Whether it was sightseeing or trying to find the best milkshake in Paris (that one was Mike's idea) and a point came where the only time Adrien saw Marinette was during class and even then it was hard to talk to her.
“Marinette, do you want to come to my photoshoot later on? I know you were curious about the line,”
Marinette looked excited before her eyes met his own and something changed, she looked away, her shoulders slumping, “Em, I promised Mike I’d take him to the museum today. He wanted to see the superhero display, maybe some other time, A-Adrien”
“We’re meeting at Nino’s today for games, would you like to go together?”
“I...I’ll meet you there, Adrien. Is it okay if Mickey comes?”
She rushed past him before he could say anything.
“Hey, Marinette!” He said, managing to catch her just before she left class, “ You know I had my fencing tournament yesterday?”
A small smile,” Yeah, I did. Congratulations, Adrien. “
“Kagami was runner up. We’re going for celebratory juice, can you come?”
“Can’t I! I mean, I can’t. Em...I have this thing to do later on, yeah, a thing to do….though I can bring cupcakes tomorrow to celebrate?”, she left without waiting for an answer.
“Thanks...Marinette.” He sighed, trying to ignore the inexplicable weight that seemed to have dropped in his stomach.
A part of him wanted to hate Micheal but that was difficult because Micheal was a difficult person to hate. Whenever they did get time to hang out with him-when he wasn’t stealing Marinette away-he was always nice to them.
He always met them with a big stupid smile, his stupid grey eyes shining as he told a stupid joke or quip that made everyone laugh or at least smile. Another part of him knew they could be really good friends if he just tried but that part was hastily suppressed. The same part couldn’t help but point out how happy Marinette looked with Micheal as he saw them chatting in front of the school.
For once, the duo hadn’t left as soon as the bell rang and were actually standing a bit to the side, conversing.
Adrien couldn’t stop watching them as they talked, Marinette was waving her hands through the air, a clear sign of her excitement, as she talked avidly. There was no stutter, no nervous glancing, just Marinette, with her pink cheeks and beaming smile talking to this-this stranger that none of them knew about before this month, this horrible, Marinette-less month.
A pang of pain went through his chest as he wondered if this was how things were going to be from now on.
Just then Marinette’s eyes met his own and her eyes widened a bit before she let out a shaky smile, holding up a hand to greet him, “Hey Adrien,”
“Marinette,”He gave the girl a smile as he came to stand near them, before turning to Micheal, “Hello Michael,”
“Hi, Adrien, ” Micheal gave a lazy wave before excitement shone on his face again, “Marinette and I were talking about this crazy antique shop that opened a few streets away, you wanna come with?”
“Oh,” Adrien put his hands in his pockets, “ I’d love to but I have fencing today, I was actually waiting for Kagami so we could go in together.”
He heard Marinette intake a sharp breath but before he could say anything Marinette moved quickly, stepping beside Mike as she linked her arm with Tonys, “It's fine! No problem, we, em, Mike and I can go by ourselves, You’ll probably think it's lame anyways, Lamer than lame,” She gave a strained smile so much in contrast to the bright smile she had before.
“What? Of Course not, Marinette. I don’t think it's lame. I don’t think anything you do is lame,” He said, his sincerity clear in his voice, trying to clear any misunderstanding that might be there, he wondered if that's why Marinette had been avoiding him. He noticed Micheal looking at him with a contemplative look but focused his eyes on Marinette instead whose lips were parted in surprise.
“Em, thanks Adrien,” A soft smile was directed at his way that Adrien returned.
Micheal cleared his throat before holding up his watch,” We should get going if we want to be back before your shift starts, Stellina.”
“Yeah and There comes Kagami’s car,” Marinette’s eyes glanced at something behind him,” I’ll see you tomorrow Adrien,” and with that she walked away with Micheal, her arm linked with his as they put their heads closer together to talk, something stirred in his chest even as Kagami came up to greet him and pulled him into a conversation as they walked with him back into the school.
He was convinced he was making a big deal about nothing. It's not like Marinette wasn’t allowed to have other friends; It shouldn’t-It didn’t bother him.
Then came his photoshoot.
His photoshoot at Trocadéro had just ended when he saw the two passing by. They were teasingly bumping their shoulders together as they walked,smiles on their faces, Adrien opened his mouth to call out to them maybe ask to join them and then...then Marinette pulled Micheal down and pressed a long exaggerated kiss on the boy’s cheek; Her name died on Adrien's lips as he looked away hastily, his fists clenching at his sides as a memory of another kiss arose in his mind, a kiss Marinette had placed on his cheek on her birthday, her eyes bright as she held his charm close to her chest.
By the time he looked back, they were gone.
That night, he finally gave in to the urge that had been plaguing him for days. He fed Plagg a week worth of Camembert as a bribe and took to the skies, his destination: Marinette’s balcony.
His relationship with Marinette as Chat Noir had built up increasingly after the ‘incident’ with the miracle queen. After all, She was the only miraculous holder other than him and Ladybug whose identity had not been revealed, even if that only happened because she was no longer a holder and didn’t consider herself one.
Plus, hanging out with Marinette always managed to make him feel better. She was like sunshine at the end of a dreadful thunderstorm: Warm and welcoming.
But Today his mission was simple: Talk to her about Micheal and maybe find out why she was avoiding Adrien. He didn’t know how to do that or what he expected to find out but a half-cooked plan was better than brooding in his room with no plan at all. Chat found her sitting on her chair and swiping through her phone as he landed on her balcony.
Marinette looked up in shock before a warm smile overtook her face, “Hello, Chat Noir.”
“Princess,” He bowed then approached her, “What are you doing outside on this...not-so-fine night?” He asked, looking at the dark clouds spread across the sky.
“Just enjoying the fresh air,” She shrugged, tucking her legs close to her chest.
“Uh-huh,” He made it clear he didn’t believe her, he dragged a chair near her and sat backward on it, resting his chin on its top as he stared at her, "Come on, Princess, what's the actual reason?" He prodded gently.
She looked at him for a second before looking down at her phone, “Chat,” She began, “ do you...do you sometimes feel like getting away from everything for a while?” She whispered as if it were a secret.
Chat tilted his head, “Getting away? Like for a trip or something?”
“No,” Marinette shook her head, “just...leave.” She looked down at the phone, a picture filling its screen-a picture of her and Mike.
Panic began to set in as Chat realized what she meant, “Leave? To go where?” He asked, trying not to sound as horrified as he felt.
Marinette shrugged,” Anywhere….maybe Italy,”
“With him,” He pointed an accusing finger at her phone, his eyes boring holes in the picture as he felt the crazy urge to just cataclysm it.
“Maybe, He does ask me every year.” She sighed, putting down the phone, “ My parents would let me, Mickey would probably convince them. He’s smart like that; And, It’ll be kind of fun spending all that time together.”
Chat tried not to show how each word felt like a stab through his heart. Marinette must have noticed it anyways because her eyes softened, she put the phone on the side and stood up standing near him.
“Don’t worry kitty, “ She smiled running a hand through his hair, “I am not going anywhere, promise.” she played with the shorter hair at the back of his neck, “I have more to lose than to gain by leaving but still, one can dream”
She then pulled him down to her room to play a few rounds of video games and though it helped distract him, Adrien couldn’t completely bring his mind away from it.
And as he laid in his bed at night, that thought of Marinette leaving with Micheal burst into his head like a wrecking ball. He just couldn’t get it out of his head.
He could almost imagine it playing right in front of him, Marinette deciding to do with him and if they did, they’d probably spend more time together than they already did and they’d get married in Italy and Tom would make a big wedding cake and Marinette would look so beautiful in her wedding dress but Adrien wouldn’t know because he wouldn’t have accepted the wedding invitation and Marinette would kiss Micheal’s cheek, and hug him and make him cookies and love him.
She’d be in love with Micheal, completely and utterly.
The last thought hurt the most.
The class party was both a relief and torture. A relief because after days of extensive testing it was good to have an off day and torture because Marinette, looking breathtakingly beautiful in a black and white striped top and a tulle skirt, came with Micheal and was now dancing with him.
Marinette’s pink tulle skirt flowed around her as Micheal spun her, her eyes squinting as she laughed merrily. They were dancing sillily, Micheal kept spinning and dipping her, he was pretty sure they kept stepping on each other's foot on purpose, all the while their smiles never slipped off and Adrien, Adrien wished more than nothing for that be him.
“You okay dude?” Nino asked from his side, Adrien looked away from the couple to turn towards his friend instead. Concern flashed in his friend's eyes before he took one look at what Adrien had been looking at and understanding replaced the concern, “Come on, let's get you something to eat.”
Nino guided him away from his spot and towards the snack table and while Adrien knew what Nino was trying to do (distract him from Marinette), he let him do it because he didn’t know how much longer he could take watching them.
“Took you long enough, “Nino said as he picked up a pastry to munch on.
Adrien furrowed his eyebrows, “What?”
“Marinette?” Nino said as if that explained everything but seeing the perplexed look on his friend’s face he elaborated, “You finally realize she isn’t ‘Just a Friend’, didn’t you? Don’t deny it, bro, I could see your eyes throwing daggers at Mike from a mile away.”
Adrien chose to ignore the remark and made a conscious effort not to look at the dance floor.
“So apparently, new-boy over there’s been trying to get Marinette to go to Italy with him,” Alya told them, shaking her head as she came to stand next to them and picked up a cupcake to bite into.
“How do you know that?” Nino asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I heard em,” Alya stated after swallowing her bit,”He was saying to Marinette that he was leaving on Sunday and, get this, he said he was sure she’d come with this time,” Alya rolled her eyes as if it was the most preposterous thought.
Adrien's world tilted. Everything seemed askew all of a sudden as his eyes snapped to the duo in the middle of the room. “But Marinette said no, right?” he asked, a little too evenly.
“She didn’t say no, but she didn’t say yes either.” Alya shrugged, “Not like him saying it is going to make it true, there’s no way her parents would agree to it.“
But Adrien couldn’t hear Alya over the thumping of his heart in his ears.
All he could remember were Marinette’s words from that night,
“ Do you sometimes feel like getting away from everything..just leave?”
“My parents would let me, Mickey would probably convince them…”
Adrien stared in dumbstruck silence, just shaking his head in denial, clearly, he was overthinking this. There was no way Marinette was leaving, she said so herself! Why would she go with him? Well, she did say that she wanted to go and she had been avoiding Adrien for weeks for some reason, and she did seem happier with him than he had seen for a long time but-but-
Marinette couldn’t leave.
He didn’t even think before striding across the room to reach Marinette. She was giggling and clapping as Mike danced by himself, her cheeks a beautiful pink.
“Marinette,” He said her name as he came to stand near her, her eyes snapped to his as the blush deepened.
“Adrien,” His name sounded so beautiful on her lips, he wondered why he hadn’t noticed that before.
Mike had noticed him too but before he could say anything Adrien reached forward and gently grabbed Marinette’s hand with his, “I am sorry for cutting in but can I talk to Marinette? Like, right now? Thanks,”
Without waiting for a reply he tugged Marinette behind her as he guided her away from the party, his hand entangled with hers even as the anxiety gripped him.
“Wait wait, what's going on? Adrien?” Marinette asked as they reached a relatively secluded area.
“You can’t leave, Marinette.” He blurted out, not being able to contain himself anymore, he stepped closer putting his hands on her shoulders, ”Please, even if you do want to leave and even if you do like Italy and wedding cakes, don’t leave. You have friends here, I am here.”
His panic must have shown in his voice because Marinette’s eyebrows scrunched together as concern mixed with confusion flashed across her face.
“What? Wedding cakes? Where’s all this coming from?” She put a hand on his forehead,” Are you feeling okay, Adrien.”
He removed her hand from his forehead and clutched it close to his chest pulling her close, his eyes pleading her as desperation filled them, “Look if you’re angry because of something I did, just tell me. I’ll fix it, I promise, don’t just leave.”
“Adrien,” She put her other hand on his cheek,” who said anything about me wanting to leave?”
Adrien stepped back running a hand through his hair agitated, “You did,”
“No I didn’t, “ She shook her head, “Not to you or any of our friends, I just told….Chat,” Her eyes widened as she looked up at him, her eyes taking in his face like she was seeing him for the first time.
“Kitty?” She whispered under her breath but he was too lost in his own head to pay attention to the world-changing revelation she’d had.
He walked closer to her and grabbed both of her hands in his, “Marinette,“ He gulped,” I don’t know what's been going on but I hate this distance we’ve created and I hate that everything that I try just pushes you further back, I hate not having you around and I know it might be too late and I know that you have Mike-”
“Mike?” Marinette said confused but Adrien went on.
“But if I haven’t messed things up too bad. Please just give me a chance?” His eyes pleaded, Adrien realized that there was nothing he wanted more than for her to say yes.
“That's why you’ve been so upset? Because of Mike?” She sounded shocked.
“Because I lo-I like you Marinette, a whole lot and I….it wasn’t until he came that I realized that and I-”
Marinette interrupted him with a kiss, Adrien made a startled noise as her lips met his. Her soft lips moved against his and Adrien closed his eyes melting into the kiss.
It felt as perfect as a kiss could be.
Warm and beautiful and right.
Adrien almost raised up a hand to tangle in her hair and deepen the kiss then he realized something that made him pull away even if it was the last thing he wanted to do
“Wait, what about Mike?”, his question came out all breathless as he looked down at Marinette.
”Oh you silly kitten,” Marinette moved in closer and looped an arm around his neck, Adrien put his hands on her waist,” Micheal Dupain is my cousin.” She ended with laughter in her voice.
“Oh,” Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed before the words sank in and his eyes went wide, “Oh,” He whispered again, his cheeks heating up as humiliation took hold.
“Yes, oh ” Marinette repeated with a small giggle, then she rubbed their noses together “and he’s been spending all this time with me because he knew I was having a hard time dealing with Lila and getting over my crush for this stupidly sweet boy,”
“You,” She bopped his nose then pressed their lips together again in a sweet peck, she pulled away but stayed close enough that Adrien could feel her breath on his face, ” To think, all this time we’ve been running around circles.” Her finger ran through his hair at the back of his head as she played with them.
“Huh?” Adrien replied a bit dazed and Marinette looked proud before a sheepish smile took over her face.
“I guess you were right, after all, Chaton.” She admitted shyly, looking at him from under her eyelashes,” Your Lady ended up falling for you in the end,”
Adrien stilled, then he smiled and as he whispered, “ My lady, My Marinette” and pulled her into his arms, her body fitting perfectly with his and the world righted itself once again.
Green-eyed monster because Chat Noir/Adrien has green eyes and jealously *Nudge* *Nudge* Okay you get what I mean. I am not kidding what I say that I love reading Jealous! Adrien and I loved writing it just as much.
And before you ask it: Yes, Micheal knew exactly what he was doing. He could tell Adrien was a bit jealous and was hoping it will give him the push he needed. He made Marinette promise not to tell anyone he's her cousin and it wasn't until Adrien's miny break-down that Marinette understood why.
I imagine after they went back to the party, She pretended to be miffed at him first but she made sure to hug him extra hard later on for essentially getting her and Adrien together.
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