A Few Choices

Marinette didn't get any sleep that night. Her heart was beating and her mind was processing a thousand different things. She wasn't really tired anyway anymore. She'd made herself a late night coffee to help keep her awake while she thought.

Chat was toying with her. He wasn't making a secret of it. He was really having fun with toying with her. He was doing it deliberately, and he was making the most of it. He was giving her tips and subtle hints to lead her along the right path. He was enjoying watching her wonder about these things.

Oooooh, she was going to punch him once she found out who he was. Right in the gut.

"Would my miraculous help figure out who he is?..." She wondered aloud. Tapping her magical earrings, she tried to spark the messages. "Soul Link! Soul Mate! Connection!" Nothing. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. The miraculouses hadn't been giving her messages lately, which was something that she found rather weird. Maybe they had run out of poems, or maybe they didn't need to send her messages anymore. Perhaps something was wrong with her miraculous... Great. Another thing to think about.

"It doesn't work that way, Marinette..." Tikki groggily responded from her sleeping space, awoken once again by a confused Marinette's noise.

"Oh, Tikki... Sorry, I've kept waking you up these past few days, haven't I?" Marinette sincerely apologized to her sleepy Kwami.

"It's fine... I'm used to it at this point. Every Ladybug has had questions and been confused about the Soul Link... I think I remember the Amazonian Ladybug tried hitting her miraculous against a tree when it refused to tell her anything about the Soul Link."

"...How would help?"

"She was a lot more hot-headed than you."

That earned the first real laugh Marinette had been able to have all week. So far, she hadn't had the chance to really just relax for half a second. Everything that had happened had been draining her emotionally and physically. She hadn't been able to laugh in a while.

"So, what is the issue? It's not broken, is it?" Marinette asked, once she had managed to stop laughing.

"Miraculouses can't be broken. It just needs to recharge itself."

"Re-Charge?"

"They have to tap into the very Soul Link's themselves to send you messages... You two must have been interacting so much it's shorted it out for a bit. It should be back to normal in a few days."

"Will it affect me being able to become Ladybug?"

"Not at all."

Marinette sighed. That was good to know. "Thanks for that, Tikki. You should go back to sleep now."

"What about you, Marinette?" Tikki asked, with a yawn.

"I'm not tired yet. Don't worry about me." She told her Kwami sweetly, with a reassuring smile. "I'll be okay."

Nodding, Tikki drifted back into sleep, leaving Marinette alone once again, to her thoughts.

Chat had made no secret that he knew who Marinette was in his civilian identity. He had practically given her a starting line. He was testing her. He wanted to see if she could find him now. He probably wouldn't have done that if he hadn't seen Tikki the previous night, like he claimed... So that meant he was going to offer some tips to who he was behind that black mask.

So everyone Marinette knew was a suspect.

Wonderful.

"Kid, you are playing with some serious fire here." Plagg commented. 

Adrien smugly walked to his school with his hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face, and a spring in his step. The limousine had broken down again, and was still awaiting repairs, so his father had been left with no choice than to let Adrien walk to school on his own again.

Of course, it might have helped if Adrien wasn't the one ensuring the limousine kept breaking down, via methods he kept to himself. He enjoyed walking to school. He liked the freedom it gave him, even if he was set to a selected destination. Even being driven in that large black car was like he was being kept under surveillance the entire time. Being able to go throughout the city freely without it was a blessing. Part of why he loved being Chat Noir.

That and his chances to tease the hell out of Marinette.

"I'm enjoying myself, Plagg." Adrien commented.

"I can tell. This never works out for any person who tries to mess with Ladybug's. Never has gone well in history. Trust me - I've seen most of it."

"Maybe... But this is too much fun."

"You're actually kind of a jerk underneath that pretty-boy face, aren't you?"

Adrien resented that remark, but he didn't say anything to Plagg. Truth be told, he realized that what he was doing could be seen as a jerk thing to do, but he rationalized it by saying that Marinette had, unknowingly, been rejecting him for how long? She couldn't hate him for wanting a tiny bit of payback, and it wasn't like he was doing it out of malicious intent.

The truth was, he really did care about Marinette.

Which was why he wanted to see if she could identify him and Chat Noir. If she could see the one inside the other. If she could see the Chat inside Adrien, and the Adrien inside Chat Noir. He wanted to know if she could see him - Who he really was - Behind that mask.

His mind wondered to the previous night. He remembered how close he had been to Marinette. He remembered how red her face was, yet at the same time, how calm she looked, despite obviously being embarrassed to the heavens and back. He had fully intended to kiss her then. He had completely planned on doing that, but he had wanted to tease her some more. Make her want him, more.

Because what would probably kill him is if him - Adrien - Being Chat upset her in some way. It shouldn't, since he knew of her crush on him... But Adrien Agreste and Chat Noir were two very different kettles of fish. One was a model. The other was a superhero. Or would it make her more happy?... He had no idea, really, but he didn't want to push her.

Rather, he was just enjoying the moments he had with her. For all he knew, knowing who he was underneath that mask could make her send him away. If she chose to do that, he would, albeit depressed, accept it. 

"You reckon she'd like the fact I'm Chat Noir?" Adrien asked his Kwami. "Or do you think she'd hate me for it?" 

"Kid, she has a wall covered with your . Take a guess." Plagg said, putting in as much sarcasm as he could muster. "Stop being paranoid and just tell her already."

It was an irrational phobia Adrien was having. He knew there wasn't any real reason for him to be this worried about her reaction to him.... But there was always that irrational doubt that held him back sometimes. "Maybe... But I am enjoying keeping her on her toes." He'd make it up to her once she figured out who he was. 

"Have fun with dealing with the consequences, kid."

The day passed by without major incident, leaving Marinette with only two days before the end of the week. She had made absolutely no progress on discovering who Chat Noir was. No one seemed to fit the bill. Everyone either was physically speaking, incapable of being Chat Noir, such as hair color, eye color, or body type, or their personality didn't match up in any way, shape or form with his. Marinette had very few ideas as to who Chat could be at this point, and wondered if he had intentionally set her on the wrong path to mess with her.

She knew he wouldn't make this easy, but she would have imagined, knowing him, he would have made some sort of action to indicate who he was during the class. A Cheshire grin. A pun. a 'My lady', or 'Princess'. Something to give her some indication, but she had seen nothing.

Really, she was stumped as to who he could be at this point. She walked through her usual shortcut through an alleyway on her way home, scratching her head in confusion. "Who are you, Chat Noir?..." 

"Not doing too well on figuring out who I am, are you, Princess?"

And of course, he was here now. Looking up, Marinette saw that smug cat, hanging upside down from a roof ledge like some sort of adrenaline junkie. "You don't make it easy for me, Kitty."

"I thought you never backed down from a challenge?"

"A challenge involves me having a chance at figuring out the answer."

"Everything is right in front of you, my Ladybug." Chat winked. He wasn't quiet, either, speaking like they were in an enclosed space. In reality, they were in an alleyway. 

"Keep your voice down!" She hissed, checking to make sure no one was behind them. Chat would have known, since he had an aerial view of the place, but hearing him call her that in public terrified her. "I swear you're just testing me at this point."

"What can I say?" Chat grinned. "Seeing you angry is adorable."

Marinette sighed once more, and walked a bit closer to Chat, so she was roughly underneath him. Trying to pull a cute face, she asked, "You couldn't give your princess a hint, could you?"

Another smug smirk appeared on the cat's face. "Already asking for help? I guess I'm too much of an enigma for you." His teasing was over the top, as per usual, but something about him, how full of himself he was being, knowing full well she was struggling to figure out who he was, annoyed Marinette even further. 

"When I find out who you are, you are getting such a punch."

"And I'll be better for it, and I'll kiss you as reward. Fair trade?" Chat snickered to himself. "Alrighty then, Princess.... Behind this mask of mine, you and I, we're friends. Heck, we spoke today. That should narrow down your options."

One of her friends, and someone she had spoken to today... Taking into account the boys in her class she spoke to, that narrowed it down to Nino, Nathaniel, and Adrien. She had spoken with Nino about Adrien, although her heart wasn't totally in the conversation. She had conversed with Nathaniel about his artwork once again, after seeing a sketch of Ladybug he had done, which secretly flattered her, and Adrien, whom had initiated a conversation with her, asking her about her designs again. Everyone else had been either too busy, or Marinette just hadn't spoken to them.

One of those three....

"Helpful?" Chat asked, an eyebrow raised.

"That... Narrows it down." Marinette said, echoing what Chat had said to her.

Behind that mask was Nino, Adrien, or Nathaniel.

Now she just had to figure out who was behind that mask.

And she had an idea as to how she was gonna pull that off. 

Besides, deep down, she thought she might know who it was.

And she feared the idea it was him.