Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Marinette trudged up to her room, closing the trapdoor behind her and slinging her bookbag over by her desk with a weary sigh. So much for studying in the park. It had been too cold anyway, and then there had been the akuma attack. Afterwards, she’d given up and gone to a café only to discover she’d left her history book at home. She’d read the assigned chapters of La Casa de los Espíritus by Isabel Allende instead and decided to call it a day.

Despite the fact that it was only four o’clock, Marinette was ready for a nap. Unfortunately, she climbed up to her loft to find the bed already occupied.

With a sigh, she pulled back the covers and slid in beside him.

One iridescent green eye slowly peeled open to assess her.

“Just me, Chat,” she whispered. “Scoot over or get out of my bed.”

With a grunt of acknowledgement, he acquiesced, giving her space.

Once she had settled in, he looped an arm around her, burying his face in the back of her neck.

“No snuggling,” she grumbled but did absolutely nothing to enforce her command. “My parents are going to have a fit if they find us.”

“I told Sabine I was here to nap. Me in your bed is old news, Princess,” he muttered into her hair in reply.

Marinette sighed in resignation, letting her eyes drift closed, wondering how she would explain Chat to a future boyfriend.

“I have this friend,” she imagined herself saying. “I swear we’re just friends, but sometimes he ends up in my bed—but not like that!—and we cuddle…a lot…but there’s nothing going on, Adrien. I swear. Just…pretend he’s a real cat.”

She saw that going over well…especially given how eloquent she was when she spoke to Adrien. She’d improved over the last four years to the point where they had actual conversations now, but there were still times when Marinette got tongue-tied around him, and she could see herself getting very flustered and tongue-tied during a conversation about what exactly Chat was to her.

If Adrien asked if she and Chat had slept together, she could honestly say no, but if he asked if they had feelings for one another…she could see herself being in trouble.

She woke an hour later with Chat’s head on her chest and his hand gripping the waistband of her skirt like a child grasping a security blanket. She could see dried tear tracks trailing down the side of his mask.

“Chat,” she called softly. “Time to wake up.”

He rolled off of her with a grumble that indicated that she was free to leave, but he had no intention of abdicating her bed.

“Chat, if you sleep any longer, you’re not going to be able to go to bed tonight at a decent time, and you’ll be completely useless at school tomorrow,” she warned, using the same authoritative tone that Sabine did when she had to coerce Marinette out of bed in the mornings.

“Don’t care,” he huffed, turning his back on her.

With a roll of her eyes, Marinette leaned in and gave his cheek a lick.

It tasted like salt.

Instantaneously, Chat Noir sat up, scrubbing comically at his cheek. “Geez. What are you, like, five years old? Gross, Princess,” he admonished even as he began to chuckle.

Marinette grinned. “I was going to lick your ear next, if that didn’t work.”

Chat shuddered, and Marinette couldn’t tell if it was a shudder of dread or anticipation. Normally, Chat liked it when she playfully nipped him—on the cat ears, his real ears, his arm, his hand, his fingers. She’d only licked him a handful of times over the years, so she couldn’t really say whether he liked getting a dose of his own medicine. Licking was usually something he did to her neck.

“Come on,” she urged. “Not that your ladybug-themed boxers aren’t cute, but it’s time for you to get up and put your clothes back on.”

“Are you sure?” he teased, waggling his eyebrows. “You look like you’re having such a good time appreciating the glory that is my bare chest.”

Marinette shrugged, feigning disinterest as she straightened her skirt and prepared to descend the ladder back to the main room. “Meh. Seen it before. It’s nice, but it’s old news.”

He followed her, grabbing his clothes from the foot of the bed en route. “Marinette, what I’m hearing is that I’m going to have to take my boxers off to regain your interest because there’s not much else you haven’t seen.”

“Enough,” she sighed. “You’re being crass on purpose because you’re upset about something and you’re trying to distract yourself.”

His shoulders rose up to his ears, and he averted his eyes, pretending to be fully occupied with straightening out the ball of leather his suit had become. “I always feel so naked in front of you…even when I’m actually wearing clothes.”

“What happened?” she prompted, lowering into her desk chair and sliding over to her sewing machine to resume work on the tie she was making for Adrien for Valentine’s Day.

Chat gave a shrug, slipping his legs back into his pants.

“Your father?” Marinette guessed (only she didn’t have to guess because it wasn’t so much a question of who had upset Chat but what Chat’s father had done to upset Chat this time).

Chat nodded miserably. “I didn’t do well enough. It was important to him, and I didn’t do well enough, and he said…” Chat swallowed and forced himself to take a steadying breath. “…that I was a disappointment…and that my m-mother…”

He couldn’t say it. His eyes were beginning to sting with tears once more, and he couldn’t bear to repeat what Gabriel had said to him. He’d come home from a rough fight with one of his supervillains to Gabriel berating him over his subpar performance at the previous day’s photoshoot for the important new collection his father had been working so hard on over the past few months.

Adrien had always known that he wasn’t perfect, but it hurt so badly whenever Gabriel rubbed that fact in his face. And then bringing up his mother had been like a knife to the gut, shoved in and twisted.

Marinette’s arms were around him in seconds, her palms below his chest, her cheek pressed between his shoulder blades. “Chat, your mother would be so proud of you. She’d be proud of the young man you’ve become. If your father knew you were Chat Noir, how much time and effort you put into saving Paris, he would be proud of you too. Don’t let what he said get to you, Minou.”

He struggled to coax a smile back onto his face, and it came out sort of ironic because if his father did know that he was Chat Noir, he would be horrified. He would lock Adrien up and steal his miraculous, and that would be the end of that.

“Thanks, Princess.” His words sounded more hollow than he intended.

“…I’m proud of you,” she whispered, giving him a squeeze of encouragement.

“Thank you,” he repeated, more convincingly this time.

She sighed, slowly releasing her hold and going back over to her sewing project. “One of these days, I’m going to figure out your identity and have a serious talk with your father.”

This got a genuine laugh out of him. He rolled his eyes, pulling up his zipper and slipping on his gloves. “No offence, Princess, but you haven’t figured out my identity in the three years we’ve been regularly hanging out. I’m not really optimistic about your chances at this point.”

Marinette stuck out her bottom lip in a comic pout. “Hush. I’m bound to get it eventually. Just…give me a little more time.”

He rolled his eyes, slipping the cat ears back into place atop his head.

“And a hint would be nice,” she grumbled.

“You want a hint?” he baited. “Here.” He went to stand beside one of her Adrien posters, assuming the same pose: the fold of his arms, the cocky grin, the tilt of his head, the beckoning gaze. “Who am I?” he challenged.

She stared at him piteously for nearly a minute before shaking her head sadly in defeat. “No idea. Do I even know you without your mask on? You’ve implied before that you’re famous, but, unless you work in fashion, I’m not really familiar with celebrities. When I look at you, you’re just…you.”

With an exasperated smile, he shook his head and went to lounge on her chaise longue. “You’re hopeless. Absolutely beyond all help. The girl has seen me as close to naked as possible, and still this flimsy little mask around my eyes keeps her from recognizing me.”

“You have a magical glamour that keeps me from recognizing you!” Marinette whined. “It’s not fair.”

Chat snickered as he shrugged, flipping over to lie on his back with his feet over the end of the chaise. “You probably wouldn’t even recognize me if I took off the mask. My poor, oblivious princess.”

“I’m not oblivious.” The corner of Marinette’s mouth twitched. “Magical glamour!”

“I think you’re just making excuses because you can’t figure it out.” Chat nodded knowingly.

Marinette let out a low growl of frustration, his teasing finally getting to her. Couldn’t he see how badly she wanted to find him? Hadn’t she told him dozens of times? She would tear down Paris to find him…only the magic was too strong. She was this close to trying to rip his mask off herself. She knew it wouldn’t do any good, but…

“You suck,” she spat in frustration.

“Yes,” he purred, delighting in the fact that he had finally gotten her to lose her composure. “On occasion, for the right guy, but I’m not as good as you at it because I haven’t had as much practice, so I’ll go ahead and leave the sucking to you, Princess.”

She twitched. She knew he was doing this because he was still upset. He always turned into a bit of a vulgar jerk when he was dealing with something, and she knew she wasn’t the only one frustrated by her inability to recognize him without his mask, but…somehow, this time he really annoyed her.

“Oh, screw you,” she hissed with an ounce of venom…that he didn’t seem to pick up on.

His reply was airy and flirty: “I mean, I wouldn’t say no. Do you want to? If so, go right ahead.”

At first, she was tempted to throw something and kick him out. He was insufferable when he got like this, and chances were he was only going to push more of her buttons as the night went on. Then, however, an idea occurred to her.

He looked up at her silence, wondering, “Did I go too far, Prin—”

He trailed off when he saw her approaching, stalking like a hungry panther, a calculating look in her eyes, a seductive smirk on her lips.

“Mari…nette?” His eyes widened as she lowered herself onto the chaise with him, her knees straddling his hips. He gulped. “Marinette, I was kidding. I—”

She placed a finger on his lips, pushing gently, coaxing him back down flat on his back. “Shh.” She leaned forward, her hands going to either side of his head to box him in.

His heart fluttered in his chest, and his breath caught.

“Oh my God,” he thought, slightly panicked. “I’m going to do it. I’m finally going to do it. I’m going to sleep with the second most amazing woman on this planet. She’s going to have sex with me. Crap, I am not ready. I’ve never done this before. Has she done this before? Maybe I shouldn’t have talked such a big game. What if I’m bad at this? What if I’m bad in bed and she doesn’t want me around anymore? What if it ruins our relationship? What if Ladybug finds out? What if my father finds out? What if we get pregnant? What if it’s awesome but she decides friends don’t do this kind of thing with each other and refuses to sleep with me ever again? What if—”

He was snatched out of his whirlpool of thoughts by Marinette’s throw pillow covering his face.

She cackled as she playfully smothered him.

At first, he gave a jolt in surprise, but as he realized that she was messing with him for his crude behavior, his body went limp in resignation.

No, they were not finally doing this. If he wanted to sleep with Marinette, he would have to put his imagine to work later…again.

She removed the pillow quickly enough, still laughing at his expense. “You should have seen your face! I’m sorry, Chat. I know you’re still upset about what your father said, but you’ve got to stop being so vulgar when—Ah!”

She gasped as he grabbed the undersides of her thighs and rolled up to standing with her, giving her no choice but to circle her arms around his neck or fall. Her legs squeezed his hips as he walked her over to the wall, putting her back up against it to help keep her upright.

“You should have seen your face,” he chuckled, not unkindly.

She stuck her tongue out at him. “Put me down, Chat.”

“Let me think…. No.” His nose scrunched up in amusement.

She stared him straight in the eye, unblinking, even though their faces were less than a handspan away. She could see how big his pupils were; she assumed that hers were just as bad. “We’re going to do something stupid, aren’t we?”

Last time they got like this, they ended up making out. It was only by virtue of them being up on her balcony and semi in public that clothes had not come off. It was a miracle that neither of them had thought to open up the skylight and tumble into her bed.

“Well, if you hadn’t been a tease,” Chat offered with a hint of sullenness.

“You’re the one teasing,” Marinette scoffed. “You don’t even like me.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t like me,” he snorted, not realizing until later that that was as good as an admission that he liked her. “And this is teasing.” He leaned in and sank his teeth into her neck, giving his bite just the right amount of pressure—hard enough to leave a mark but light enough to be more pleasure than pain.

Marinette gasped, her legs tightening around him.

That was all the encouragement he needed. He licked her neck sloppily from her throat to her ear before clamping his mouth down on the spot he had bitten, sucking greedily.

Her hips rocked forward reflexively, and he returned the pressure. He had her pressed up against the wall, pinned with his body so that she no longer had to hold herself up and her hands were free. One quickly found its way into his hair, tussling and gripping intermittently. The other wrapped around his bell in that innocent yet suggestive way that always drove him over the edge.

“Stop,” she gasped as one snapping out of a dream.

Reluctantly, he disengaged, eyes half-lidded and hungry as he pulled back to look up at her curiously. “Stop?” he wondered.

“Stop,” she repeated, eyes slipping closed as she attempted to take deep breaths. “We need to stop before we cross a line.”

Line? He wondered what line there really was left between them. It seemed like their entire relationship had been a series of crossing lines and renegotiating rules. He was the exception to “no boys in the bedroom after nine”, and then he became the exception to “no boys in the bed”. Their platonic sleepovers had led to him stripping down to his boxers when she’d said that the suit was uncomfortable to snuggle against. 

Snuggling while watching movies had not-so-gradually gone from sitting side by side to her with her head on his shoulder to the jumble of limbs that they usually twisted themselves into on the couch nowadays.

He didn’t remember how the licking and the biting had started. He suspected its origin lay in the innocent pecks on the cheek they had shyly begun exchanging. Somehow lips had migrated other places—ears and necks—maybe by accident the first time, and tongues and teeth had come out, and suddenly it wasn’t weird to be licking Marinette’s neck. It was all perfectly friendly…despite the fact that he knew that he would never get away with that kind of behavior with any of his other friends.

And now they were kissing. Actually kissing. The first one had been an accident; a missing of the cheek two weeks prior had landed his lips squarely on hers…and kisses two through nineteen had not been accidental.

Deep down, Adrien knew that carrying on like this, making out with a friend, pinning her up against a wall with her legs around his waist and attacking her neck, and taking naps with her in her bed, was not healthy. This was an indication that they had some serious issues. He knew it wasn’t normal.

At the same time, his relationship with Marinette was the sanest, healthiest, most loving relationship in his life. He knew that only served as a testament to how messed up his life was, but…if not for Ladybug…Marinette would be the one.

But there was Ladybug, and he just couldn’t get over her. There was also Marinette’s own crush of four years, so Adrien held no delusions of a happily ever after with Marinette. What he had with her was only a blissful interlude while she worked up the courage to confess to Luka, and he knew it. Then he would be forcibly extracted from her life, left out in the cold with his hopelessly unrequited love for Ladybug while Luka licked Marinette’s neck and pinned her up against walls and snuggled with her while watching movies.

In all honesty, Adrien knew that he was a placeholder, keeping Luka’s spot warm. He knew the things he did with Marinette were in boyfriend territory, and he knew things wouldn’t be allowed to continue once she started dating Luka.

He closed his eyes, leaning in to rest his head on her shoulder. He took deep breaths of her cinnamony perfume as they both rode out the bout of arousal, slowly coming down.

“We’re going to have to stop this when you get a boyfriend, aren’t we?” he groaned softly.

“Definitely,” she sighed ruefully, stretching the word out. It sounded like she was dreading the day almost as much as he was.

“Don’t get a boyfriend,” he whispered, giving her neck a tender nuzzle and a penitent kiss before slowly lowering her to stand shakily on her own feet. “Please?” He lightly nosed her ear.

“Oh, Chat,” Marinette sighed, frustrated that she always had to be the one to keep her head on her shoulders. “We can’t keep doing this. This is getting… They have a word for people like us, and I never wanted…” Her voice caught in her throat as he leaned back in to touch his forehead to hers.

“I’ll be your boyfriend,” he suggested in a way that indicated that his brain was still foggy and that he wasn’t thinking things through.

She put her hands on his chest and pushed him back. “You know better than to say that unless you’re serious. Are you serious, Chat? Are you asking me out?”

She held her breath as she waited for his answer. He was the only one she’d give up Adrien for. If he would pick Marinette over Ladybug, she would pick him, but as long as he kept pursuing Ladybug’s illusionary perfection…she couldn’t. The Ladybug he was in love with wasn’t her…not the real her.

His eyes widened as he finally realized the hot water his mouth had landed him in. He stared at her intently for nearly a minute, considering the trade he was contemplating…the trade he had been contemplating for two years now. Could he give up on the elusive Ladybug for the surety of Marinette’s love? He knew it would be for the best to let go and give in, but, at the same time, it felt wrong to consign Marinette to being the second choice, only picked because she was attainable. Chat knew that Marinette was Luka’s first choice, and it seemed unforgivably selfish to “settle” for her.

Chat sighed, looking down at his feet.

“Ladybug?” Marinette guessed.

He made a little grunt of admission. “Sorry.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be. I understand.”

Tentatively, he looked up at her. “Still…don’t get a boyfriend. I’m not…ready for you to get a boyfriend.”

She rolled her eyes and smiled mischievously, teasing him to try to lighten the atmosphere, “You just want the free pastries and cuddles and flirting and naps in my bed.”

He forced himself to grin, copying her jocose manner. “Can your future boyfriend really complain if you’re not in the bed with me at the time?”

Marinette gave him an eye roll accompanied by a playful smack on the arm as she walked past him back to her desk to resume her work on Adrien’s tie. “We both know that I’m usually in the bed too. Besides, I know I would flip if I were dating someone who let Ladybug take naps in his bed.”

A moment too late, she realized her error in summoning Ladybug back into the conversation.

Chat’s shoulders slumped as he made his way back to the chaise longue and flopped over onto his back. He picked up the throw pillow and hugged it to his chest.

Marinette pursed her lips.

The conversation was dead, but it still felt unfinished, like a zombie softly moaning in the corner, waiting for them to acknowledge it.

She slowly applied pressure to the pedal of her sewing machine, guiding the material through. She reached the end and held up her work for inspection.

“…Are you confessing to Ladybug again this year?” she asked without looking at him.

“I was thinking about it.” He threw the throw pillow up into the air, catching it with a soft thump on its descent. “Seventh time’s the charm and all that, you know.”

Marinette set down the tie and hesitantly turned. “I wish you wouldn’t. Didn’t she tell you she was still in love with that other guy?”

He shrugged, a careful poker face of neutrality in place. “That was a couple months ago. Maybe she’s over him or he started dating someone else or he turned her down by now. It won’t hurt anything just to ask her if things have changed. I’m not going to be pushy about it.”

Marinette sighed deeply, getting up and going over to kneel beside the chaise and look down at him. “It’s going to hurt you,” she whispered mournfully. “Chat, you’re incredibly precious to Ladybug. She loves you as a dear friend, but Ladybug can’t return your feelings. You need to let her go.”

He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the harshness of reality. “I can’t.”

“Because you’re not trying.” She attempted to keep her voice soft, not accusing. “Minou, I can’t bear to see you hurt because of her anymore. It hurts me.”

Slowly his eyes slid open to study her. He reached out a hand and gently stroked her face. “My sweet princess…my poor, tenderhearted princess…don’t get yourself so worked up over it. It doesn’t matter.”

Her face quickly contorted into a frown. “It does matter.”

He shook his head, a grateful smile slowly inching across his lips. “I love you.”

She bit her lip hard to keep a sob from escaping. She wasn’t able to hold back the tears that slowly began to parade down her cheeks.

“Oh, Marinette.” His voice was full of warmth as he tipped forward to place a butterfly kiss to the side of her mouth, his lips half on and half off of her own.

“My pain doesn’t have to be your problem,” he advised with a wink. “Besides, I like it when she hurts me. I’m used to the people I love letting me down and stomping on my heart. If anything, she could stand to be more cold about it. She’s much too nice for the number of times she’s had to turn me down. She doesn’t even look annoyed. In fact, it looks like it hurts her when she has to tell me no. I’d feel better if she publicly embarrassed me or something…yelled at me a little. That’s how I’m used to people showing that they love me—willfully ignoring me until it’s time to knock my self-esteem down another a peg.”

Marinette winced, resting her head on his chest and letting her tears fall.

It was times like these that she wanted to scream “to hell with the rules!” and tell him everything, explain to him why exactly Ladybug had been turning him down these past four years…but she was scared.

Tikki had always been very explicit about the repercussions of breaking the rules. She had told Marinette horror stories of past Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous holders. The akuma battles had never gotten any easier or safer over the years, and the last thing Marinette wanted was to get Chat killed. She knew she wouldn’t survive that.

Then there were the relational repercussions to revealing her identity to consider.

Chat obviously cared for Marinette, but not enough to out and out pick her, and Marinette didn’t want to be just a stand in for Ladybug. The way their relationship was now, she already felt like just someone to pass the time with. She often wondered if—while snuggling, cuddling, kissing, or horsing around with Marinette—Chat ever imagined she was Ladybug. It was stupid because she knew that they were technically the same person (doubly stupid because Marinette, hypocrite that she was, sometimes imagined it was Adrien touching her, Adrien kissing her). Marinette knew she was being unreasonable, but she still somehow couldn’t stand the thought of Chat picking Ladybug over her. She wanted him to love Marinette enough to pick her unequivocally.

She also knew that this wasn’t going to happen, and that knowledge stung.

“Precious Princess,” he cooed, beginning to stroke her hair. “I’m sorry. Don’t get upset for my sake.”

“How can I help it?” she pouted, rubbing at her eyes, trying to get the tears to stop.

“Let’s do something more fun than lie around moping,” he suggested, sitting up and guiding her up and onto the chaise next to him. “Let’s talk about your crush. Are you going to confess to him this Thursday? What do you have planned?”

He did a good job of faking a smile and feigning excitement; she would give him that.

Reluctantly, Marinette let herself be dragged away from the topic of his impossible situation with Ladybug, just as Chat desired.

“I don’t have a plan yet,” she confessed, picking at the hem of her skirt. “but I’m making that tie for him, so I guess…I’ll give it to him on Thursday and tell him then.” She nodded, as if psyching herself up.

“For real this time?” Chat teased, sticking out his tongue. “This has seriously got to be the fiftieth time you’ve told me you were going to confess, and, so far, your crush never gets confessed to and never gets his presents. How many do you have stuffed in that trunk of yours?”

“Oh hush,” she grumbled, whapping him halfhearted in the face. “Yes. For real this time. I’m going to do it. I’m going to tell him how I feel because if I don’t do it this time, I’m never going to do it, and I’ll have wasted four years of my life for nothing. If I’m going to get rejected, I might as well get it over with.”

Chat rolled his eyes, taking her hand away from her skirt and giving it a gentle squeeze. “You’re not going to get rejected. I see the way he looks at you. He may seem cool and collected on the outside, but when he’s with you, his insides go to mush. The instant you confess, he’s going to sweep you off your feet into a passionate kiss, and you’re going to live happily ever after.”

Marinette’s entire face went red as she laughed giddily, imagining Adrien sweeping her off her feet and kissing her. “Oh my gosh. No. He…he doesn’t. He wouldn’t.”

She shook her head, still on cloud nine, safe in her daydream. “…Do you think? I mean, does he really…” She trailed off as the look on his face registered: lost and longing.

The heady feeling dissipated, the joy immediately sucked from her voice. “What’s wrong, Minou?”

He shook his head and smiled, but it was that slightly off grin that signaled some kind of internal distress. Something was definitely not right.

“Chat, talk to me. What is it?” she pressed, reaching up to tug on one of his cat ears.

“It’s stupid,” he argued. “It’ll only make things sad again. I was trying to make you happy, talking about your crush and how great things are gonna be once you finally get up the courage to confess.”

“I don’t want to be happy if you’re sad,” she stated bluntly. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head and smiled once more—an ironic smile, an “isn’t it funny? …Please laugh at me. I can’t bear you looking at me like that” smile.

“I’m jealous,” he chuckled. (Isn’t that funny? Please laugh.)

“Jealous,” she repeated, unsure. “Of…me?”

“Of him,” Chat clarified, seeming to shrink in his mortification. “…I don’t want to lose you.”

She grabbed his hands, affectionately rubbing his palms with the pads of her thumbs. “Chat, you’re not going to lose me. We’ll always be friends.”

Chat almost laughed. “Here it is,” he thought. “This is cosmic retribution for all the times I insisted Marinette was just a friend…poor, innocent fool that I was.”

“Yes,” he agreed sadly. “We’ll always be friends…but it won’t be like this anymore.”

He darted forward, capturing her lips in a kiss of desperation—hard, frantic, and yet over before she could even return it. He pulled back and gulped, wearing his apology on his face.

She stared at him, confusion and conflict evident in her expression. “…No,” she finally admitted. It had been a struggle to find the word. “It won’t…but…maybe he really will reject me and I’ll end up throwing myself into your arms in my grief. Then there will be no reason to be jealous because I’ll be even more yours than I was before.”

Chat’s first thought was that he hoped Luka really did say no. He caught himself and gave himself a mental slap for that, but it didn’t make the image of a distraught Marinette writhing beneath him go away.

“Would you really want her like that?” his better judgment prodded his conscience.

“What would Ladybug think?” it goaded him.

“How would Ladybug know unless I told her? Could I just not tell her? Is there any way I could have them both?” he wondered as myriad thoughts swirled around in his head, pulling him in dozens of directions.

Chat closed his eyes, giving his head a shake to clear away the swarm of unhelpful thoughts. “He’s…not going to reject you,” Chat insisted, leaning in and nuzzling her hair. “I’ll beat him up myself if he does. Not that he’s going to. He’d have to be an idiot to turn you down when you’re the most heroic, loving, kind, thoughtful, cool, gorgeous girl in the world.”

Marinette blushed. It felt like her insides were melting as he gushed about her, even though she knew that he was exaggerating. She knew he thought the world of her, but she also knew that there was someone else who ranked higher on his list that he was momentarily forgetting.

“What he means is that I’m the best…after Ladybug,” she internally sighed.

He placed the ghost of a kiss on her temple before pulling back to take her in. “…Luka’s really lucky,” he breathed wistfully.

Marinette gave a start. “L-Luka? What do you mean?”

Chat blinked slowly. It was like he had lost his place in the script…or they’d thrown out the script and were now adlibbing.

“Your…crush,” he answered, his brow scrunching up into a confused frown. “Luka. Luka’s really lucky to have someone like you in love with him.”

Marinette’s jaw actually dropped. “Luka? You thought… This whole time you thought we were talking about Luka?”

This was like sticking your hand in a hole and feeling around, trying to identify the object inside the box.

“Were we not talking about Luka?”

He needed a map—one of those giant bulletin boards with a “you are here” written on a large, red star—because he was so lost.

She shook her head slowly from side to side. “I mean…Luka is handsome and kind and wonderful and everything, and I guess I can kind of see me falling for him—yes, I mean, I’ve thought about it before, but—Chat, Luka’s not the one I have a crush on.”

“Oh.” Chat gulped. “Sorry. I don’t know how I got…” Now that he thought about it, she’d only ever said “my crush” this and “my crush” that, never a name, but… “…confused,” he ended lamely. “Then…who…?”

Marinette’s cheeks glowed like the dew on roses evaporating with the rise of the sun. Sheepishly, she motioned all around the room to the pictures hanging on the walls.

It didn’t immediately sink in. At first, it only confused Chat more because she seemed to be indicating her collection of fashion reference pictures. It took nearly a minute for him to consider that maybe the Adrien photos she had told him were because she was a Gabriel fan weren’t actually purely because she was a Gabriel fan.

“Adrien…Agreste,” he answered his own question, his words coming out like an engine stuttering to life and then dying once more. “You’re… You like… All this time?” he choked.

She looked away with a shrug, tucking the bang that always escaped from her ponytail holder back behind her ear. “Yep. I’ve been in love with Adrien for four years now.”

“Well.” His voice came out a little high pitched, but it sounded mostly normal…at least to his ears. The only problem with that was that he wasn’t really hearing all that well at present.

He needed to go lie down because he was an oblivious idiot who hadn’t realized that one of his best friends had been in love with him for four years. He needed time to digest this, but it wasn’t like he could go to pieces there in her room. That would give him away quicker than anything, and he didn’t feel like he could deal with that kind of complication to his already confusing relationship with Marinette right then and there.

“Adrien Agreste,” Chat repeated, the syllables sounding almost foreign, like a word said so many times that it loses its meaning. “I guess he’s pretty.”

Marinette arched an eyebrow at her friend. “Pretty? Have you seen him? He’s literally a supermodel. ‘Pretty’ is an insult.”

Chat nodded, trying to keep it together. “Is…that why you like him?”

If Marinette was another one of those women who swooned over his looks, he was going to die on the spot. Why couldn’t anyone see past the pretty exterior to the ugly mess on the inside? Marinette loved Chat despite knowing how screwed up he was, but could she still love Adrien after she discovered that he wasn’t as perfect as he seemed?

To his immense relief, Marinette scoffed. “Please. How shallow do you think I am? I mean, sure, Adrien is gorgeous, but that has nothing to do with why I love him. In fact, despite his pretty face, I couldn’t stand him when we first met due to a misunderstanding. Then I got to know him, and I fell in love with him because he’s sweet and loyal. Even though he’s rich, he doesn’t act entitled, and he doesn’t take things for granted. He appreciates the simple things in life like having a picnic with your friends or walking in the park or watching raindrops race down windowpanes. He’s a hard worker who always does his best, and even though he has a full plate, he never complains, and he doesn’t hesitate to take on more to help out a friend. There are dozens of things that I love about Adrien that have nothing to do with how good he looks in a suit…but I don’t think you really want to hear about them. I could go on for hours,” she half-joked.

She was wrong. He could have listened to her go on for hours.

“And you’re sure he’s the one you’re always talking about?” Chat needed it verified. He was having trouble remembering all the gushy things she had said over the years, and now he was wishing that he had paid more attention, but when he thought she was talking about Luka, it had hurt a little too much to listen closely.

“Chat, it’s only ever been Adrien,” she sighed, wondering what had gotten into her partner. The revelation about Adrien seemed to be blowing his mind.

“And you’re sure you love him?” Chat pressed, needing her to be certain.

She resisted the urge to bang her head against the wall and nodded laboriously. “Yes, Chat. I am positive that I love Adrien Agreste.”

He leaned in for a quick peck on her cheek. “You’re incredible, Marinette. He doesn’t deserve you.”

She rolled her eyes, giving his shoulder a playful shove. “I guess we’ll find out on Thursday when I confess, won’t we?”

Suddenly Chat’s world came crashing down. She liked him. She was going to confess to him in four days’ time. He liked Ladybug. He was going to have to turn her down.

He sucked in a shaky breath as the horror and duplicity of his situation sank in. She would probably be upset if she found out his identity. It most likely wasn’t acceptable to ask your friend self-serving questions like that without her knowing about your dual identities. He would be in so much trouble. She’d be angry. He didn’t even want to think about Thursday and her throwing herself into Chat’s open arms after Adrien had rejected her. Through some twist of fate, he had ended up a twofaced eavesdropper listening in on and freely probing for information that he should not be privy to.

“You’re really going to confess?” He gulped.

“Yes,” she answered with conviction.

“Because you don’t have to, if you’re not ready,” he coaxed, but she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

He wasn’t. He doubted he’d ever be.

“I have to go,” he suddenly informed, getting to his feet and making for the ladder up to the loft.

“What?” She stared at him dumbly. “You don’t want to stay the night?” Usually, when his father made him cry, Chat stayed the night. She would have thought for sure what with his father bringing up his mother that Chat wouldn’t want to go home, but…

“I forgot something important. Can’t stay tonight,” he offered quickly, eager to get away so he could process the past four years of his life as well as his life goals and current five-year plan. “Tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Oh. Okay.” She didn’t bother resisting or questioning it because something was obviously up. “See you tomorrow, Minou.”

He paused at the ladder, looked momentarily conflicted, and then came back to plant a smooch right on her lips.

“I love you,” he whispered, eyes filled with sorrow, confusion, and longing. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but…sorry I suck at this.”

Before she could piece together a reply, he was gone, up to the loft and out the skylight.

“…Was that weird?” Marinette mumbled to herself. “That was weird, wasn’t it?”

Tikki did not comment.

She had gotten good at not commenting, especially over the last six months as things between Marinette and Chat Noir had escalated into the hormonal mess that they currently were.

Tikki sighed and went to affectionately nuzzle Marinette’s cheek and pet her hair.

Chapter Text

“Please don’t say anything,” Adrien pleaded as his transformation dropped. “Don’t laugh at me. Don’t tease me. Don’t say I told you so. If you care about me at all, don’t say anything…please.”

In a rare display of compassion, Plagg floated over to pet Adrien on the head. “I’ll be in the sock drawer if you need me, Kid,” he muttered and flew off without another word.

“T-Thanks,” Adrien choked, utterly taken aback by the lack of resistance.

Silently thanking the heavens for small miracles, Adrien pulled out his phone and shakily dialed Nino. He began to pace as it rang and rang…and rang.

“This is Nino,” the voicemail service informed Adrien. “You know what to do.”

The beep was like a ball of iron dropping in Adrien’s stomach. “Uh, hey…Nino…. This is Adrien…. Adrien Agreste. Um…can you call me back as soon as you get this? Like, don’t even listen to the rest of this message. Just call me back because I’m kind of freaking out a little bit and really need to talk to you. But it’s not like it’s an emergency or anything. It can wait. I have until Thursday—but please call me back before Thursday! Or, I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow, but I don’t really want to talk about this at school, so if you could call me back tonight, that would be awesome. It’s okay if it’s late. I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep much tonight, so—”

The savage blare of the answering service cut him off, signaling the end of his message.

With a sigh, Adrien collapsed onto his bed and waited for Nino to call him back. He tried to keep his mind suitably blank until then. He made a valiant attempt not to think about how he was going to make Marinette cry on Thursday as Adrien…and then probably end up in bed with her as Chat when he attempted to comfort her later that night.

Because he had a responsibility to show up and comfort her, right? If she loved Adrien as much as Adrien had been under the impression that she loved Luka, Marinette was going to be a wreck when Adrien told her that he already had someone he loved and couldn’t give up on. It wouldn’t matter that she was his second choice, that he would have said yes if not for Ladybug.

What was that expression? Close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades?

Marinette would need a friend. Adrien wasn’t so sure that Chat Noir was the friend that she needed, but…

He looked at the time on his phone and groaned when he discovered that only ten minutes had passed.

With a sigh, Adrien tried Nino’s number again.

“Hi, Nino,” he greeted the answering machine glumly, audibly disappointed. “It’s Adrien again. Sorry to keep bugging you. You’re not out with Alya, are you? I’m sorry if you are. You can wait until you get home to call me back. It’s not actually urgent…despite the fact that I’ve called you twice in twenty minutes and left you two voicemails. Sorry again. I know I’m being a pain. I’m just…panicking, I think is the word for it. This is what panic feels like. I’m panicking—Did you know that Marinette liked me? Of course you did. You’re dating her best friend. Why did no one ever tell me that Marinette was in love with me? I feel like this is something I should have been made aware of. Who else knows about this? Does everyone—”

The answering machine beeped, cutting him off once more.

With a snarl of frustration, he jabbed at Nino’s number, dialing again. “Still Adrien. Does everyone know about this? Did everyone just assume that I knew and was just ignoring the issue? For four years? Do people think I’m that much of a jerk? Am I a jerk? Does Marinette think that I’m a jerk? Have I unknowingly been insensitive to her all this time? Should I have known about her feelings? Was this completely obvious to everyone else? Am I the only person who didn’t know? Why didn’t I know? I thought she liked Luka. I thought…”

He trailed off, the mental torrent suddenly ceasing.

“…What am I supposed to do, Nino? I’m such an oblivious idiot, and I ruin everything I touch. I don’t want to destroy things anymore. I don’t want to hurt her…. Call me back, please,” he ended in a defeated tone.

Adrien rolled over onto his stomach, burying his face in one of his pillows so he could scream without disturbing anyone. Oddly enough, it didn’t make him feel any better. He was still angry at himself for his ignorance, clueless as to what to do next, and utterly alone in it all.

He sat up, forgoing the pillow and screaming out loud, heedless of whether anyone heard.

He should have expected the concerned knock on his door. The Gorilla tentatively came in and poked his head around the skate ramp, trying to be unobtrusive while still doing his duty, checking to make sure assassins weren’t murdering his ward.

“Sorry, Victor,” Adrien sighed, wishing he could melt into the bedspread. “Girl problems. Just…ignore the screaming, please?”

The Gorilla nodded sympathetically and let himself out, going back to stand guard.

Adrien picked the pillow up once more and screamed until his throat hurt.

“Kid, you’re going to pass out,” Plagg warned, peeking out of the sock drawer.

“Being unconscious sounds wonderful right about now,” Adrien sighed bitterly. “Then I wouldn’t have to stress out about how I have to turn down the second most amazing woman on the planet on Thursday, ending our friendship and turning my relationship with her as Chat Noir into something sneaky and underhanded and unfair…. Maybe I should sneak out and get some sleeping pills. I really don’t want to be conscious right now. I don’t want to be conscious until Friday.”

“Stop!” Plagg squeaked, bolting over to cover Adrien’s mouth before he could call out to be transformed. “Bad idea! Veto! Veto! You are not taking sleeping pills. You’re a mess right now, and, knowing my luck, you’ll take too many and never wake up. Let’s…” Plagg wracked his brain, trying to channel Tikki. “…take deep breaths and…think about happy things like…cookies and…rainbows…and…help me out, Kid. This is not my forte.” He pulled back to let Adrien speak. “Where’s your happy place? School? The Jardin du Luxembourg?”

“Fighting beside Ladybug and with Marinette in her room,” Adrien confessed in a small voice.

Plagg winced. “Okay. Scratch that. Abandon the happy place. Just…take deep breaths and… What else does she always say? Believe in yourself? Focus on the positives? Be the person your dog thinks you are?—No. That was a bumper sticker.”

Adrien watched with a strange sense of amusement as Plagg floated back and forth, scratching his chin and muttering to himself.

“Ugh. I am not equipped for teenage angst. Isn’t there someone else you could call until hat-boy is available?” Finally, Plagg threw in the towel.

Adrien bit his lip. “Marinette? I usually talk to Nino or Marinette when I’m upset.”

Right about then, Plagg really wanted to scream into a pillow. “You can’t talk to the girl you’re upset about about how you’re upset about her.”

Adrien shrugged. “She’s been talking to me about how she’s in love with me and can’t get up the courage to confess for three years now, so I don’t see why not.”

Plagg was sorely tempted to retreat to the sock drawer, taking the pillow with him to scream in comfort. “You two…are the most special human beings I have ever encountered.”

Adrien’s phone rang.

“Thank gouda,” Plagg exhaled sharply, going back to the drawer as Adrien fumbled to answer.

“Adrien, where are you?” Nino demanded breathlessly, not even bothering with a greeting.

“Home?” Adrien winced, feeling guilty at the anxiety evident in his friend’s voice. “Why?”

“I got your voicemails,” Nino sighed, closing his bedroom door behind him and slumping down into the desk chair. “Are you…okay?”

Adrien considered it for a moment. His kneejerk reaction was to claim to be fine, but what use was there lying to Nino about it?

“No,” he confessed. “I’m definitely not okay.”

“Yeah.” Nino nodded, leaning back in his chair. “You didn’t sound okay. Sorry I didn’t pick up. I just got home from a date with Alya.”

“It’s okay. I…I mean, I survived, so…” Adrien flopped back down on his bed. “I may not last the week, but at least I made it thirty minutes, so…there’s that.”

“What exactly happened?” Nino swiped off his hat and used the back of his hand to rub at his brow.

“I…” Adrien bit his tongue. He hadn’t had his wits about him enough to prepare a feasible story beforehand. “…may have overheard a conversation Marinette was having.”

Nino made a grunt of acknowledgment, encouraging Adrien to continue.

“She was saying all this nice stuff about me—like, really nice stuff, Nino. I’d had no idea that someone could like me so much, but…Marinette was saying how she had been in love with me for the past four years, only she couldn’t ever seem to summon up the courage to tell me. She said she was going to do it this time, though. She said she was finally going to confess for sure on Valentine’s Day.”

“Good for her.” Nino chuckled softly. “Yeah, she’s been tripping over herself over you for the longest time. So…what are you gonna do?”

Adrien groaned miserably. “I have no idea.”

Nino frowned. It seemed like a simple problem to solve.

“I mean, I don’t want to ruin my relationship with her.” He couldn’t give her up…couldn’t give up either one of them.

Nino scratched at his cheek, shaking his head. “Okay, Mec. Radical idea for you. How about you not worry about that right now? How about you say yes when she asks you and give dating a try? I mean, Dude, you like her. Trust me on this. I know you’ve been keeping her in the friend zone in your mind up until now, but you do like her. I’ve seen the way you look at her and track her with your eyes when she’s in the room. At the very least, you’ve wanted to sleep with her the past three or so years, right? You obviously find her attractive; why not give this thing a chance?”

Because the stakes were a lot higher than Nino realized. Adrien knew that he was in love with Marinette. He had been adamantly denying it to himself for a while now, but, deep down, he knew how he felt about her. The problem was that she didn’t know Adrien very well. She’d accepted him as Chat, but that didn’t mean she’d welcome Adrien with open arms when it turned out that the perfect supermodel and Gabriel poster boy was battered, bruised, and imperfect on the inside.

He was afraid of her rejection. He didn’t want to disappoint her.

“But, Nino, she’s serious about this. It’s not like this is something I can take lightly. I can’t just ‘give dating a try’ and then change my mind later” (If Ladybug ever came around to returning his feelings.) “and say, ‘Sorry, Marinette. I don’t think this is working out.’ It would be less complicated if we just stayed friends. Besides…I’m already in love with someone else.”

“Kagami?” Nino guessed.

Adrien sat up, cocking his head to the side. “Kagami? No. Well, I mean…she’s…sort of my type, but Kagami’s just a friend.”

“It’s not Chloé, is it?” Nino turned up his nose in distaste.

“Ew. Chloé is just a friend. She’s like my sister,” Adrien protested.

Nino nodded. “Just making sure…. Lila?”

Adrien shuddered. “Lila’s pretty, but she’s not a good person. I…wouldn’t even consider her a friend.”

Nino shrugged and gave up. “Okay. You’ve stumped me. Who is it? Who has captured your heart?”

A giddy ache welled up in Adrien’s chest. “Please don’t laugh at me.”

“Mec, I would never,” Nino assured.

“It’s Ladybug,” Adrien blurted out like ripping off a bandage.

Nino blinked, pulled the phone away from his ear to look at it in suspicion, and took a deep breath. “Ladybug,” he repeated. “The one that’s always saving Paris? The superhero?”

“It’s not as crazy as it sounds,” Adrien rushed to defend himself. “We’ve met a couple times, and we’ve really had chemistry. I think I actually have a shot with her.”

Nino pursed his lips, forcing himself not to answer right away. “…Okay. That’s…really cool…. But, even if you two do have chemistry, how are you going to pull off dating when you don’t—when you can’t know who she is? How is that gonna work with going out on dates in public? If things get serious, how are you two gonna get married? I hate to rain on your parade, but I don’t see how you can be in a real relationship with a superhero.”

Adrien almost retorted that Chat Noir and Marinette were handling it just fine when it occurred to him that they weren’t actually in a quote-unquote “relationship” and that they weren’t handling it fine.

“Maybe…if we were thinking about getting married, she could reveal her identity to me,” Adrien suggested. In his head, real world logistics never seemed to play a role in his fantasies about his relationship with Ladybug.

“And then everyone who knew you had been dating Ladybug would find out her identity when you married whoever she is under the mask,” Nino sighed.

Adrien’s heart sank.

“Look, sorry, Dude. I’m not trying to talk you out of your feelings. If you love Ladybug and don’t want to try dating Marinette, that’s fine. It’s your life. You’re allowed to make your own decisions. Just…let Marinette down gently, okay? And maybe don’t mention your crush on Ladybug.”

Adrien nodded sadly. “I’m going to lose her, aren’t I?”

“Marinette?” Nino guessed.

“Yeah,” Adrien whispered breathily.

“Maybe not necessarily,” Nino offered. “Sure, there’s probably going to be some time where she’s not feeling up to hanging out with you, but if you emphasize how important her friendship is to you and tell her how awesome you think she is and then gently break the news that you’ve already got your heart set on someone else, I think she’ll be okay, given time. I mean, it’s not your fault you don’t return her feelings. She may be upset, but she’s not gonna be mad at you about it. Marinette is the most supportive, understanding person I know. Just be honest with her,” Nino advised.

Adrien pursed his lips. It was hard to be honest when he spent so much of his life lying, but he knew Nino was right. Adrien would have to tell Marinette the truth: he thought the world of her, but he couldn’t give his heart away twice.

Chat would have to adjust his behavior around her too, going forward. No more making out. No more almost sleeping with her. Chat would have to exert a tremendous amount of willpower, but it had to be done. He couldn’t turn her down as Adrien and then still enjoy boyfriend-type perks as Chat Noir. It was wrong, and it needed to stop. Now that he knew about her feelings for Adrien, he was obligated to man up and do the right thing. It wouldn’t be easy, but he’d find some way to do it because he really did love Marinette, and he didn’t want to hurt her.

They had to go back to being just friends. He couldn’t have both Marinette and Ladybug. Even if they didn’t know about each other, it wouldn’t be fair to either of them. Neither Chat nor Adrien wanted to be that guy who would go around behind their backs with more than one girl.

“Got it,” Adrien whispered into the phone. “Just be honest. Thanks, Nino.”

“You doing okay now, Mec?” Nino tentatively asked.

Adrien nodded. “Yeah. I’m…better, I think. Thanks. Thanks for talking me down.”

“That’s what buddies are for,” Nino replied with a grin. “You need me to stay on the line a little longer, or are you good? Anything else we need to talk about?”

Adrien briefly considered all his other questions about who else knew and how he had missed this for so long, but he was too tired to get into it all, and it didn’t seem as important now that he knew what he had to do to make things right with Marinette.

“Nah. I think I’m good for now. I think I might freak out about other things at a later date, but…I’m going to try to rest. I’m pretty warn out,” Adrien decided.

“Okay. Well, call me back if you change your mind, Dude. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Adrien echoed and ended the call.

He got up with a sigh and went to change for bed, giving up on accomplishing anything else that day.

Plagg peeked out of the sock drawer, giving his charge a tentative once over. “Better?” He hesitated to ask lest he find himself caught up in the never-ending drama that was Adrien’s life.

Adrien gave a half-hearted shrug. “Better, but not really better. I’m dreading Thursday. It’s gonna be rough.”

“You’re going to tell Marinette no,” Plagg sighed, wanting to bang his head on Adrien’s piano.

“I have to,” Adrien insisted. “I don’t have any other choice.”

Plagg gave his charge a judgmental stare. He was so tired of this identity nonsense. It had gone on for far too long. “You could tell her yes,” Plagg suggested.

“Don’t start. Please,” Adrien sighed, pulling on his sleep shirt. “I already talked with Nino and decided what I’m going to do. Besides, it’s not fair to Marinette to start a relationship with her while I’m still in love with someone else. She deserves to be more than a rebound. What I need to do is set her up with Luka.”

“You’d be a jealous wreck,” Plagg snorted. “What you need to do is give up on Ladybug.”

Adrien shook his head adamantly. “I can’t. Even if she won’t let herself feel anything for Chat Noir, I really do think that Adrien has a shot with her. Haven’t you seen the way she acts around me? The couple of times she’s saved Adrien, she’s been all blushy and giggly and nervous.”

“Oh, so he does notice when Ladybug is blushy and giggly and nervous,” scoffed Plagg.

“I think she likes me,” Adrien forged ahead, unperturbed. “Maybe if I ask her out as Adrien—”

“—Kid,” Plagg cut him off, nipping Adrien’s inchoate scheme in the bud. “If she doesn’t like you as Chat Noir—when you’re acting most like your real self—how do you figure she’s going to manage to like you as Adrien? What’s she going to do when you start acting like Chat around her? How about when she finds out that you really are Chat Noir and that you went behind her back and deceived her in order to date her? How do you think she’ll react?”

“Badly,” Adrien mumbled ashamedly, flopping down on his bed and burrowing into his sheets.

“Do you think she’ll get over your dishonesty and still want to date you?” Plagg pressed, driving home his point.

Adrien pulled the covers over his head. “…No,” he begrudgingly admitted in a small, hollow voice. “That would be it. End of relationship for Adrien. End of partnership for Chat. End of friendship forever.”

“Maybe not forever,” Plagg beneficently threw Adrien a bone. “but she would definitely be sore with you for a long time…. Besides, how do you even know you’ll like who Ladybug really is behind the mask? I know you two talk sometimes before and after the fights, and I know you meet up occasionally when you’re out in costume at the same time, but you don’t really know her, do you? She refuses to talk about personal things, so you don’t know her favorite food or what she wants to do with her life or what kind of music she listens to. She hasn’t let you get to know her…and she hasn’t let herself get to know you either. How do you know you’re seriously in love with her?”

Adrien came out from under the covers to meet Plagg’s gaze with a determined stare. “Plagg, I may not know all the little details, but I know the important things about her. I know what kind of person she is. She’s principled and brave. She’s good at thinking on her feet, and she always tries to do the right thing. When she does mess up, she takes responsibility for her mistakes and does what she can to make things right. She puts up a good front, but I can tell that she’s often scared or unsure of herself. She’s afraid of letting everyone down, but, despite that, she always shows up and gives it her all. I don’t have to know whether she prefers sushi to Italian food to know that I love her, Plagg.”

Suitably cowed, Plagg backed down. “Okay. It’s your choice if you want to keep waiting around and getting rejected by her. I just don’t see this working, Kid. If you’re going to be with her, you’re both going to have to be completely honest with one another, and I’m not sure you’re capable of it.”

Adrien balked at this. “I can be honest with Ladybug.”

“You’re not the problem. She is,” Plagg informed patiently. “Tikki makes a point of getting her holders terrified of revealing their identities. She’s lost people…. We’ve both lost people…so Tikki’s more concerned with keeping her charges safe and alive than with the health of their love lives. I don’t think Ladybug’s going to let you in if you confess to Ladybug.”

Adrien groaned in frustration. “Plagg, is there any way you can talk to Tikki about this?”

Plagg slowly shook his head. “Tikki has been adamant about the secrecy thing for a couple millenniums now…. It’s devastating to lose your person, Kid…. You’re not going to change Tikki’s mind.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Adrien looked up at Plagg with that desperate, pathetic expression that made Plagg want to share his cheese with the kid.

Plagg gave in with a sigh. “Let’s put it this way: you’re never going to get Ladybug to take her spots off for you…but you may eventually convince her to put them on.”

Adrien’s expression contorted into a look of confused exasperation. “What does that mean?”

“It means that you need to stop confessing to Ladybug because she’s not going to let you in. If you want to get anywhere, you’ll need to go in the back door. That’s all I’m saying,” Plagg declared, going to curl up on his pillow.

Slowly, the wheels began to turn in Adrien’s head. “You mean…don’t confess to Ladybug when she’s Ladybug; confess to her when she’s not?”

Plagg feigned sleep, refusing to drop any more hints.

Adrien flipped over onto his stomach, tempted to bang his head against the wall. “Plagg, that’s useless. I don’t. Know. Who. She. Is when she’s not Ladybug.”

Adrien’s agitation was met with silence.

Giving up, he closed his eyes and attempted to get some rest.

Just when Adrien was beginning to slip off into slumber, Plagg’s soft voice nudged him back into wakefulness: “Did you know that Marinette is in love with you?”

Adrien gritted his teeth, trying not to be too catty with his reply. “Yeah. She told me about that today. Thanks for waiting four years to share with the class, Plagg.”

“Nooo,” Plagg sang, his voice dipping down a note before scooping back up. “She told you she was in love with Adrien today. I meant that she was in love with you.”

Adrien suddenly went very still. “As…Chat Noir?” He could feel his heart fluttering.

“Mmhm,” Plagg confirmed smugly. “I think it would come as a relief if you told her Adrien and Chat were the same person. Then she wouldn’t have to be so conflicted, going back and forth between them.”

Adrien sighed, mentally waving away the impertinent thought. “You’re wrong, Plagg. Sure, Marinette loves me…and we’ve kind of got this friends with benefits thing going…but she’s not in love with me. I’m just…a placeholder that she’s accidentally getting a little too involved with.”

Adrien thought he heard Plagg grumble something about hopeless, blind idiots, but he couldn’t be sure.

Chapter Text

“S-Stop!” Chat pulled away with a gasp as Marinette’s thigh put a little bit too much pressure between his legs, reminding him of everything he had sworn to himself he would no longer be doing with this girl.

“Stop?” Marinette muttered, clearly disoriented.

The husky quality to her voice made his body throb.

“Sorry,” he gulped. “I…I can’t do this.”

She blinked, and her lip twitched like she was trying to fight back her initial reaction (which he expected consisted of several expletives and an inquiry into whether or not he was serious).

“…Oh,” she whimpered. “Right…. That’s…okay.” Her strained tone revealed several layers of dissatisfaction with this turn of events.

“Sorry,” he repeated, rolling off of her. “I can’t, in good conscience, do this, and didn’t you say that you didn’t want this for us?”

Marinette sighed, her entire body going limp. “No, you’re right. I’m just…a little out of my mind right now.” She groaned, covering her face with her hands.

He propped himself up on his elbow and carefully studied her.

Models didn’t really have personal space or privacy. Their entire bodies were a canvas for the designer to create upon, and this often led to changing clothes in public fairly often as well as having other people’s hands in what would normally be considered awkward places. Some of the clothes models had to wear could be considered “revealing” at best and “see through” or “practically nonexistent” at worst. As a result, Adrien had seen a lot of naked people throughout his tenure and generally considered himself immune to the allure of the female nude.

Marinette just happened to be the exception. Her curves entranced him, and the slow gradation of her flesh from peach to brown to pink made him want to grovel at her feet. There was this delightful mole right below her left breast that he yearned to touch his tongue to and yet another right in the valley of her chest that he wanted to kiss.

While she covered her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, he took the opportunity to mentally paint her portrait, memorizing each freckle while he had the chance because he knew that he would never get to see her like this again. He had promised.

“What are you thinking about?” he whispered.

She removed her hands from her face and met his gaze, revealing the tears in her eyes. “I’m wondering how I got here…and where my shirt is.”

Guilt hit him like a blow from an akuma as he reached out to wipe away her tears, careful of Chat’s extra-long nails. “I’m afraid that you threw the shirt over the railing when you took it off,” he tentatively broke the news to her.

She nodded, taking it in stride. “Okay. Fine. Have you seen my bra?”

He pursed his lips. “Sorry. I think it’s down there on the floor too.”

Marinette blew out a long sigh, rubbing away the last of her tears. “Oh well. I guess it’s too late to really worry about modesty at this point anyway.”

“Here.” Chat grabbed the comforter from where they’d kicked it to the end of her bed and pulled it up around them. “Better?”

She smiled adoringly at him, taking his hand under the covers and bringing it to rest on her stomach. “Thanks, Minou. You’re such a gentleman.”

He didn’t feel anything like a gentleman. A real gentleman would have had more control over himself in the first place. What he felt like was a hormonal teenager in over his head.

“I’m sorry,” Chat blurted out. “It’s my fault we ended up like this. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “I feel like I’m equally, if not more so, to blame. I kissed you back, remember?”

Chat rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but none of this would have happened if I hadn’t kissed you in the first place. I need to stop that. I mean, I kiss you four or five times for every time you kiss me. If I hadn’t kissed you—”

“—I would have kissed you,” Marinette cut him off. “Chat, this was inevitable.”

He stuck out his lip in a pout. “…But if I had had more willpower—”

“—Are we seriously playing the blame game?” Marinette groaned. “Because this is my specialty, and you’re going to lose,” she informed him flatly.

“Yes, you kissed me first, but I was the one who stuck my tongue down your throat and suggested it would be more comfortable to make out on the bed than on the chaise,” she began her argument.

“But I could have said no,” he riposted. “I should have said no…and I was the one who kissed you all the way up the ladder.”

She shrugged. “I’m the one who started removing our clothing.”

“I didn’t stop you from pulling down the bell. If I didn’t want you to, the magic wouldn’t have let you unzip the suit, so clearly that was my fault. Lack of self-control.” He smirked, feeling like he had really gotten in a good point.

“Fine, but is it your fault I took off my shirt?” she challenged.

“It could be argued that I put the idea in your head by snaking my hands under your shirt,” he replied with the air of an attorney delivering closing arguments. “But I was the one who took off your bra.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Because I physically guided your hands to do it. I mean, they were shaking so bad, I don’t think you could have managed it on your own.”

He was silent a moment, unsure of how to protest. It basically boiled down to the fact that he had been tempted and he had given in. Marinette didn’t fully understand the circumstances—who exactly she was in bed with—but Adrien and Chat did, so it was their responsibility to protect her…from themselves.

He was failing her. He couldn’t let this happen.

Picking up on the distress and guilt on her partner’s face, Marinette reached to gently cup his cheeks in her palms. “Minou? What’s wrong?”

He’d meant to apologize, but his traitorous tongue had other ideas. What left his lips was, “I love you.”

Surprise registered first in her eyes, but it was quickly followed by confusion then guilt then sorrow.

“Sorry.” He spit the word out in a panic, unsure if he was correcting himself or apologizing anew. “Sorry. I need to stop saying that, don’t I? Friends don’t—”

She placed her fingertips over his lips, giving him a soft, comforting shush as she cut him off.

He slid her fingers away. “No. I’m sorry, Marinette. I’ll stop. It obviously makes you uncomfortable that you can’t say it back, and—”

She clamped her hand over his mouth more forcefully this time. “…It’s not that.”

She could say it back. She felt it back. Somehow, over the years, he’d worn her down, and she’d fallen in love with this sweet dope. Her feelings weren’t the issue. His feelings for her weren’t even the issue. She knew Chat really was in love with Marinette. The problem was Ladybug.

Ladybug was keeping them apart. Marinette was letting Ladybug keep them apart. But she didn’t know what else she could do.

“I haven’t been completely honest with you,” she confessed. “There’s…something important I haven’t told you.”

Chat’s brow furrowed. He removed her hand from his mouth. “Marinette? What is it? You can tell me anything.”

She shook her head, tears welling up again. “I have a secret I’m not allowed to tell you. If I did, I think it would change everything between us, but I’m not sure it would be for the better. You’d either hate me for keeping it from you for so long or love me for the wrong reasons, and I—” Her voice cracked. “I can’t—” It came out as a sob as the tears spilled over, streaming down her cheeks.

“Shh,” Chat whispered, gathering her into his arms. “It’s okay, Princess.” He held her tight to his chest, smoothing her hair and running a comforting hand up and down her back. “Everything’s going to be fine, Marinette.”

On the outside, he was the picture of serene reassurance. On the inside, he was hysterical because he loved this girl, and he was going to make her cry like this again in just two days.

…Maybe he could…say yes? Come clean about Chat and Adrien and…what? Not tell Ladybug he had a girlfriend? Wait for Ladybug to finally accept him in a few months (or years), and then break Marinette’s heart?

He forced his thoughts back down to deal with later (or not at all) and focused on the crying girl in his arms.

They stayed like that a good ten minutes until she got her sobs under control.

She gazed up at him repentantly, her eyes red, her face blotchy. She looked mentally and physically drained.

“Sorry,” she whispered in embarrassment, voice scratchy. “I didn’t mean to go to pieces on you.”

“Please.” He gave an amused snort. “How many panic attacks and meltdowns have you helped me ride out over the years?”

She gave a tactful shrug. “I just feel stupid because what is there to get so conflicted about? Either I tell you or I don’t. It’s just three words. Say them or don’t, Marinette. What’s the big deal? …You know?”

She met his gaze and searched his eyes for answers.

He gulped. “…Would those three words be I, love, and you?” He couldn’t breathe. If Plagg had been right… If Marinette loved both Chat and Adrien…

She blinked, and a fond smile stretched across her lips even as a shy blush fought for dominance with the flush already occupying her cheeks from her crying spell. 

She shook her head. “That’s not it…. You know I love you, don’t you?”

He nodded. It was as he’d told Plagg that Sunday night. She loved him dearly, but she wasn’t in love with him.

“I’ve just never felt like I had the right to say it back to you because of the secret I’ve been keeping.” She stopped to think about it for a moment. “I’m being unfair to you, aren’t I?” She didn’t wait for his answer. “Of course I’m being unfair to you. I’m always unfair to you.”

He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off.

“—I love you, Minou.” She said it so timidly, like she was afraid of breaking everything with her words.

He wanted to kiss her. How was he ever going to extricate himself from this complicated tangle they’d gotten themselves caught up in?

“Don’t look at me like that…like you want to kiss me,” she scolded lightly, hyper-aware of the fact that neither of them had much in the way of clothing left to lose. 

It would be so easy to plunge headlong off that particular cliff with him. She wanted it, but not like this with Chat in love with Ladybug and Marinette withholding the truth of her identity. She loved him, and she didn’t want to get this wrong.

“How do you want me to look at you?” He chuckled. “I do want to kiss you.”

“Like I’m a backstabbing liar who’s been playing with your heart for years now,” she thought.

“My secret,” she mumbled, reaching up to play with the plain black earrings she’d always worn as long as he’d known her. “…is that…”

She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t bear to watch his reaction, but she had to tell him. The direction things were going between them was obvious, and she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she let him do this without really knowing whom he was doing this with.

She licked her lips. “…I am—”

Just then, her cheval mirror toppled over, crashing to the floor, the glass shattering.

They both jumped and sat up to peek over the railing at the wreckage down below.

Marinette’s first thought was that Tikki was a lot stronger than Marinette had ever realized. Her second thought was that Tikki had gone a little overboard. Her third, that she would be throttling Tikki later, and, her fourth, that she should yell at Tikki in front of Chat Noir for trying to keep her from revealing her identity, thus, revealing her identity.

She was just about to open her mouth to scold her kwami when she heard loud, frenzied footsteps racing up the stairs, accompanied by her father’s calls of, “Marinette!”

Chat cursed under his breath.

Marinette seconded the sentiment. With the glass scattered everywhere, there was no way she could dash down and retrieve her clothes in time.

“Would you like your pants at least?” Chat offered, following her train of thought.

“No,” she sighed.

“Okay.” He shrugged in resignation and wrapped the blanket around her. “I’m not going to be able to pull my suit back on in time. Want me to wait up on the balcony?”

“I’m not going to make you stand out on the balcony in the middle of February in your boxers!” she scoffed. “Let’s…just let it happen and try to comport ourselves with as much dignity as we can manage.”

“Okay,” he whispered, arms encircling her in a protective hug as his head came to rest against hers.

The trapdoor flew open, and Tom Dupain’s hulking frame barreled through it. He skidded to a stop when he saw the glass. “M-Marinette?” He searched the lower floor frantically for his accident-prone daughter.

Chat cleared his throat, tightening his hold on Marinette. “Up here. Don’t worry. She’s fine. The mirror just fell over; we weren’t anywhere near it.”

Tom stared openly, not quite processing what he was seeing. Without the cat ears, gloves, boots, or suit, the only thing marking the boy in his daughter’s bed as Paris’s resident hero was the mask.

“Chat Noir?” Tom blinked.

“Hi, Tom.” Chat nervously raised a hand in greeting before slipping it back into Marinette’s and giving hers a squeeze. “Or…do you want me to go back to calling you ‘Monsieur Dupain’ now?”

Suddenly it hit Tom that there was a teenage boy wearing nothing but boxers in bed with his daughter. He looked at Marinette.

Marinette looked away, hiding her very red face in the crook of Chat Noir’s neck.

Chat Noir gave Tom’s daughter a comforting nuzzle and squeezed her shoulder as he whispered, “It’s okay, Princess.”

Tom didn’t miss the loving tone to Chat’s voice.

Tom took a long calming breath and blew it out slowly. “I thought you two were just friends.”

“We were—we are,” Chat corrected. “We just…” His own face was beginning to redden.

And then Sabine joined the party. “Is she oka—” She stopped and blinked, trying to reconcile what she was seeing with her previous understanding of reality.

“Hi, Sabine—I mean, Madame Dupain-Cheng,” Chat sighed.

Marinette let out a tiny wail of abject misery, shifting to bury her face in his chest, wrapping her arms around him so that her bare back faced her parents.

“I am so sorry,” she muttered against his skin so that he felt the words more than heard them.

“Shh,” he cooed into her hair, running a hand up and down her spine. “It’s okay,” he insisted. “This is nothing. I’d slay dragons for you, remember?”

This got a weak chuckle out of her.

Sabine slipped her hand into Tom’s and gave it a squeeze.

Tom squeezed back.

“It’s okay, you two,” Sabine assured. “You’re not in trouble.”

Marinette tentatively turned and pushed back her hair to face her parents. “We’re not?”

“Not even me?” Chat raised an eyebrow in suspicion. He’d fully expected to be drawn and quartered.

Tom crossed his arms and didn’t look happy, but he didn’t contradict his wife.

“No. Not even you,” Sabine affirmed with a motherly warmth and understanding tone.

It made Adrien miss his own mother. It had been years since anyone had extended him that kind of all-forgiving grace.

“How long has this been going on?” Sabine inquired nonjudgmentally.

Marinette looked at Chat.

He tried to remember without summoning up the details of how their first kiss had made him feel. “I kissed you…what? Like, two and a half weeks ago?”

She nodded. “Three Sundays ago.”

“And you’re using protection?” Sabine verified, tone less soft.

The teenagers winced.

“We haven’t actually…” Marinette looked down at her hand joined with Chat’s. “We’ve been trying not to have sex, so we haven’t gotten to the point where that’s been an issue yet.”

Tom looked like he wanted to be elsewhere. Anywhere else.

Sabine frowned. “Assume that you’re going to fail and go buy condoms.”

“Right,” Chat sighed, knowing that Sabine had a point and that his willpower was bound to run out eventually. “I’ll drop by the drugstore on the way home.”

“Good,” Sabine decreed. “Now that that’s settled, we should probably clean up the glass so you two can get down safely. Tom, why don’t you start picking up the big pieces—be careful, Darling—while I go get the vacuum cleaner?”

Without a backward glance, Sabine set off to carry out the game plan.

As the trapdoor closed behind her, Tom, Marinette, and Chat all sighed.

“I admire her unflappability,” Chat confessed as Tom began gathering the larger shards of glass.

Marinette sighed again, collapsing back into the bed.

“You okay, Princess?” Chat whispered, trailing a finger over her knee.

She shrugged. “I think I’m going to be mortified for the next few years, but…that went better than expected.”

Chat nodded, grabbing his boots and gloves from the foot of the bed and beside the cat pillow where they had respectively landed.

“Going somewhere?” Marinette hummed as she watched him slipping the gloves and boots on.

“Help with cleanup,” he explained, leaning over to deposit a playful kiss on her temple. “You stay here, Princess.”

“Be careful, Minou,” she sighed.

Chat hopped down from the loft, bypassing the ladder (and the sea of glass at its base) and landing safely on the chaise. He grabbed the rubbish bin from over by Marinette’s vanity and set about helping Tom to pick up glass shards.

Tom raised an eyebrow at Chat’s pink and grey plaid boxers. “You’re awfully comfortable walking around in your underwear,” he observed.

Chat shrugged. “When I’m not saving Paris, I’m a model.”

Tom’s eyebrows fled to his hairline.

Marinette looked down over the railing. “Seriously?”

Chat grinned. “Yep.”

“Huh.” Marinette began to wonder if she had a type and if it was a bad thing that she only seemed to fall for models.

She shook her head, deciding that that was the least of her problems. “Could one of you be troubled to grab a change of clothes for me?” she sighed sheepishly.

“Sure, Sweetheart,” Tom readily agreed. It then occurred to him that he wasn’t familiar with where his daughter kept her clothes. “Um…where exactly…?”

“I got it,” Chat offered. “Pajamas okay, Princess?”

“Thanks, Minou.”

Tom watched, slightly perturbed as Chat picked up Marinette’s discarded shirt and bra from the floor, shook out the glass pieces, and tossed them in the hamper on his way to fetch Marinette’s sleep top, pajama bottoms, and a pair of clean underwear.

Chat hopped back up to the loft to drop off the clothes before returning to cleaning duty as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place.

Marinette seemed completely unfazed at the cat boy handling her clothes as she slipped under the covers to change.

It appeared that Tom was the only one struggling with the concept of his baby girl growing up and taking an interest in boys.

Sabine came back up with the vacuum, and the three made quick work of the remaining mess.

Once the glass was disposed of and the mirror frame had been righted, things got awkward.

“I should probably head home,” Chat admitted, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck.

“Wait.” Marinette climbed down from the loft and caught him by the hand. “Can you hang around for just a bit?”

Tom squirmed at the idea. “How about he puts his suit back on first?”

“That’s fair,” Chat agreed, going to fetch his clothes and putting them on as Tom supervised. “Good?”

Tom nodded begrudgingly.

“He’s still allowed to stay the night, isn’t he?” Marinette was suddenly stuck with anxiety. “You know he needs to get out of his house sometimes. You can’t take his safe space away from him; he has to have somewhere to go.”

Chat could have kissed her, but he didn’t feel like that would help his case much, so, instead, he slipped his hand into hers, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. “It’s okay, Princess. I can figure something else out. I’m sure your parents aren’t comfortable with me sleeping over after all this. I get it.”

“Not tonight,” Sabine agreed. “You can’t stay tonight, but if you go to the drugstore on your way home, you can have your sleepover privileges reinstated tomorrow.”

Chat and Marinette stared at Sabine dumbly.

“Maman, I’m having a hard time believing you’re actually okay with this.”

“My father would lock me up if he found out,” Chat snorted.

Marinette gave Chat a look. “He already does.”

Chat shrugged. “I meant with bars on the windows…or no windows.”

“I’m not okay with this,” Tom grumbled to himself, knowing that it wasn’t his call.

“I’m not entirely okay with this either,” Sabine confessed with a look of concern. “but I remember what it was like being a teenager and falling in love. You two are old enough to make your own decisions. It doesn’t matter if I agree with them or not, and I don’t have to approve of them or like them. My job as a parent is to be supportive and make sure you have the knowledge and tools you need to succeed. I’m not going to try to stop you if you two decide to be in a physical relationship; I only ask that you do so smartly and not go behind my back. Do we have an agreement?”

Chat and Marinette nodded, answering with timid “yes”s.

“Okay,” Sabine sighed, feeling very, very tired. She put on a gentle smile and reached up to pat the both of them on the head. “Good night, you two.”

She turned to go, leaving Chat and Marinette feeling very small.

“I’ll be back to check on you in fifteen minutes,” Tom warned as he followed his wife out.

Marinette sighed, going over to collapse onto the chaise longue.

Chat took a seat beside her, slipping off his boots as he pulled his feet up onto the chair.

Neither one said anything for a solid minute.

Marinette was the one to finally break the silence. “You’re so awesome. I don’t deserve you.”

“I think that about you a lot,” Chat chuckled.

Marinette sat up, turning to face him, cross-legged on the seat. “Seriously, Minou. That was the most embarrassed I’ve ever been in my life, and I’ve had many occasions for mortification. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for everything you just did.”

He shook his head. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

Because he’d done it for her. Maybe, if it had been another girl, he would have flaked, but because it was for Marinette, he’d found the strength and serenity to forge ahead and get through it.

She rolled her eyes. “You can stop being so cool now and just say you’re welcome.”

“Anything for you, Princess.” He reached out and lightly bopped her on the nose.

“Oh, Minou.” With a smile and a slightly giddy giggle, she poked him back. “There’s no one I would have rather gone through that with.”

He didn’t know what made him say it, but he somehow found himself asking, “Not even Adrien Agreste?”

Her face went white as a little squeal of horror emanated from her throat.

Chat immediately launched into damage control mode. “Sorry!” he squeaked. “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have joked about that. Please don’t shriek.”

Marinette buried her face in her palms. “I’m never going to be able to confess to Adrien now!”

He almost retorted that she had better because he had been psyching himself up for it for two days now, but he caught himself, instead asking, “What do you mean? Why not?”

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes for perhaps the third or fourth (he was losing count) time that evening. “Chat, Adrien’s going to think I’m a total slut!”

“What? That is ridiculous!” Chat scoffed. “He’d be a huge hypocrite if he thought that.”

Marinette suddenly went very still as she forced herself to ask, “What do you mean a hypocrite?”

Chat froze and considered coming clean. Only then he’d have to tell her now as opposed to Thursday that he couldn’t date her because he was in love with Ladybug. Granted, things would make more sense coming from Chat than they would Adrien just telling her he had his heart set on some unknown girl, but…it seemed indelicate to tell Marinette now after they’d almost just slept together.

“I mean…he’s the one who gets paid to fake-date rising celebrities in order to boost their press coverage. I doubt he sleeps with them, but I’ve still always felt like those kinds of arrangements were like him selling himself.”

Adrien wanted to kick Chat for getting them into this mess and selling him out like that. If he’d had it his way, Marinette would have never known about the arrangements.

Marinette blinked slowly. “You mean…all the girlfriends he’s had the past two years…all the singers and actresses and models he’d date for a month or two…”

Chat averted his gaze. “It’s part of the contract that he can’t tell anybody he’s not actually interested in them, but I don’t think Adrien’s ever dated anyone because he wanted to.”

“Oh.” Marinette frowned, slightly miffed. “Well. It would have saved me a lot of trouble and heartbreak if I had known that at the time. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent agonizing over how much prettier Adrien’s girlfriends were than me.”

“No one’s prettier than you.” Chat reached out and grabbed her hand.

“Ladybug’s prettier than I am,” Marinette sighed.

Chat let her hand go, feeling like a complete jerk.

Her hand recoiled, and she hugged it to her chest as if he had slapped it. “…and regardless of how many fake girlfriends Adrien has had, he’s not going to want someone who, two days prior, was just in bed practically naked with another man.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Chat repeated less forcefully. He was worse than a jerk. He was a villain, a rogue. “Marinette, you haven’t done anything wrong. Adrien’s not that judgmental. Maybe if you’d slept with everyone left and right, he’d have some misgivings about you, but it’s different when you’re in a committed, exclusive relationship.”

Marinette laughed ruefully. “Well. At least I’m one of those things, but I wouldn’t consider what we have to be a committed relationship, Chat.” She eyed him sadly.

It felt like his tongue was sticking to the roof of his mouth. What could he say? That he was committed to her…until Ladybug finally said yes when he asked her out? Some commitment that was.

And he hardly thought she would agree if he tried to insist that “friends with benefits” was a “relationship”.

He gulped. “This is my fault. I’m the one always messing things up.”

She shook her head, reaching out to scratch behind his ear. “No, I believe this catastrophe has been a team effort.”

“Some team,” Chat muttered.

He was surprised when she smiled warmly at him.

“There’s no one I’d rather have as my partner.”

“I want to kiss you when you say things like that,” he groaned.

“You want to kiss me all the time regardless,” she risked teasing.

“Guilty as charged.” He smiled grimly, dreading Thursday.

She shook her head. “How am I going to explain you to Adrien?”

“If he says yes, I’ll explain me to Adrien,” Chat offered. It didn’t cost him anything.

Her brow slowly knit itself into a frown. “I don’t feel like that’s a good idea.”

“Trust me,” he coaxed. “If Adrien says yes, you’ll find out how I can explain me to Adrien.”

She studied his face skeptically. “You’re not…like…his secret twin that nobody knows about, are you?”

Chat cracked up. “Yeah, something like that, actually.”

Marinette’s eyes went wide, and her lips rounded into a little “o” of shock. “…Are you…his body double?”

“Close,” Chat teased. “You know I wouldn’t be able to say, even if I was.”

Marinette gave a snort of frustration, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“You like me,” he snickered.

He was a little taken aback when she smiled and chuckled, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

She reached out and gave his already messy hair a good tussle. “I love you, Minou.”

He melted into her touch, beginning to purr. “I love you too, Princess,” he sighed, beginning to wonder once more if there were some way he could have Marinette without giving up Ladybug and vice versa.

Marinette’s ministrations gradually slowed to a stop, and she removed her hands from his hair. “May I kiss you?” she hesitantly inquired. “No hands or tongue or anything,” she assured. “Just…a goodnight kiss.”

He gulped, scooting forward and placing his hands on his thighs where they would be out of the way and not tempted to touch her. He nodded. “Okay.”

He held still, letting her set the pace as she leaned in and tentatively brushed her lips against his in a sweet, chaste dance.

She pulled back with a smile, and he unconsciously chased after her until her finger made contact with his nose.

He laughed, tipping his head up to kiss her fingertip. “I should go. Goodnight, Princess.” As he stood and slipped his boots back on, he paused to press a kiss to her forehead.

“Goodnight, Minou,” she sighed, watching him go.

All the while, she wondered if confessing to Adrien was really such a good idea if it meant giving up Chat. She couldn’t stop thinking about what would have happened if Tikki hadn’t knocked the mirror over right as she was about to tell Chat that she was Ladybug.

Chapter Text

Wednesday was not the best day ever.

Adrien couldn’t get the thought out of his head that this could be the very last day he and Marinette were friends. Things would be changing one way or the other the following day, so Wednesday was the last day everything would be like it had been.

Never before had Adrien so wanted to hold onto the status quo.

Wednesday was also the start of the Valentine’s Day madness.

Aurore Beauréal approached Adrien as he gathered his books out of his locker that morning and shyly inquired whether or not he’d be available to try out a new café she’d been wanting to visit after school the next day.

At first, Adrien was surprised and didn’t know what to say. Sure, he sort of knew Aurore, but they had never held a real conversation, much less spent time together, so her invitation seemed a little out of the blue.

He didn’t have anything on his schedule officially—he had purposely asked Nathalie to clear Thursday after Marinette had told Chat on Sunday about her upcoming confession to Adrien—but that was because he’d been intending to spend the evening with Marinette as Chat, picking up the pieces of her heart after Adrien had crushed it.

“Um…that sounds like fun, Aurore, but I actually already have plans tomorrow. Maybe some other time?” He gave her his “charming smile” that he usually reserved for photoshoots and fans and wished her a good day.

Mireille Caquet caught him in the hall on his way to class and asked if he would be interested in going with her to the movies the following day. “I’m not sure what kind of films you like, but maybe we could see Ulysse & Mona or Doubles Vies or Au Bout des Doigts? Um…Deux Fils just came out too. That looked interesting. Or maybe you’d rather see Alita: Battle Angel? Honestly, I’ll watch pretty much anything.”

Adrien blinked, getting a weird sense of déjà vu. “I actually already have plans for tomorrow, Mireille, but maybe we could go to the movies another day?”

It wasn’t until a redheaded girl from Madame Mendeleiev’s class approached him at lunch to ask if he’d go for a walk with her in the Parc Monceau after school Thursday that he realized what was happening. These were dates he was being asked out on, and he needed to be more careful about turning these poor girls down, lest he end up the target of an akuma’s wrath.

The day wore on, and Adrien got two more invitations from girls he didn’t know as well. Then, during last period, Lila came to sit practically in his lap as she regaled him with her plans for their date the following day.

Adrien gritted his teeth in an approximation of a smile as he was forced to listen to her entire spiel (as she wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise).

“Wow,” he finally got to respond when she’d finished and asked him for his opinion on her “perfect date plans”. It was obvious that his line was supposed to be “that sounds perfect, Lila. You’re so wonderful! I can’t wait”, but Adrien had other plans. So he told her so. He put on his best disappointed expression and tried to let her down gently. Even Lila deserved some courtesy, and it would be a massive pain if she got herself akumatized. AGAIN.

To his surprise, Lila’s answer was, “Well, can’t you just cancel?”

Adrien was tempted to say, “No. I’m actually really in love with this girl”, but he decided that that was too blunt. He apologized again and expressed his disappointment in not being able to rearrange his schedule.

Adrien had assumed that he would be safe from invitations after school let out, but, low and behold, at the end of fencing practice, as they were putting away their gear, Kagami turned to him and said, “You know, they’re doing an exhibit on Soviet art at the Grand Palais, and it looks fairly interesting. You wouldn’t happen to be available to go with me tomorrow, would you?”

Internally, Adrien winced. “Not you too.”

Out loud, he expressed his regrets and informed her that he already had other plans. “Maybe some other time, Kagami,” he suggested.

She eyed him suspiciously. “It’s not Marinette Dupain-Cheng, is it?”

Adrien nearly fumbled his fencing mask. “W-What?”

Kagami’s eyes narrowed, a knowing look coming into her eyes. “Your date tomorrow. It’s with Marinette, isn’t it?”

Adrien smiled sheepishly. “I can neither confirm nor deny that I’m planning on spending tomorrow with Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

She nodded slowly, accepting defeat with grace. “Very well. I will allow you to make a mistake and learn from it.”

With a sigh, Adrien shook his head fondly. Good old Kagami.

She was right about one thing, though: Adrien sure did feel like he was on the precipice of a mistake.

That evening, Chat arrived on Marinette’s balcony at eight o’clock.

“Listen.” He caught both of her hands in his. “Tonight…no funny business, okay? I just want to hang out with you like we used to before the kiss, so…no kissing, no taking our clothes off. I just…” He looked away self-consciously. “…I need to cuddle with you, and that’s all I need. Is that okay?”

“Minou,” Marinette cooed, her hands gently threading through his hair. “You can always ask me for what you need. You don’t have to be nervous. All right?”

He gave a tentative nod and pulled her into a tight hug.

She didn’t say anything, but she could sense that something was upsetting him. As a result, she tried to tune in to his nonverbal cues even more so than usual.

They ended up watching a movie downstairs on the couch, snuggling up into a ball but careful to keep the contact platonic.

After the movie (which Chat didn’t really pay much attention to), they moved back up to Marinette’s room. Marinette sat on her chaise working on homework while Chat rested his head against her thigh.

He was quiet, caught up in his thoughts.

“What’s on your mind, Kit-Kat?” Marinette finally asked, looking up from her maths worksheet.

“You want the list?” he chuckled darkly.

“Oh boy,” Marinette internally sighed as she took a deep breath, steeling herself. 

“Sure,” she replied confidently, closing her textbook and setting it aside. “If you want to talk about it, I’m happy to listen.”

Chat looked up at her from where he was using her leg as a pillow, and his glowing green eyes held a deep grief. “You,” he answered simply yet profoundly, his word coated in sadness.

“Me?” she echoed, her head tipping to the side.

“You,” he confirmed with a smile of pure misery. “You are on my mind. You are ‘the list’.”

“What have I done to make you so upset?” Marinette tentatively inquired, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

“Made me fall in love with you.” Chat reached up to tap her playfully on the nose. “I’ve been thinking about you like crazy all week and how tomorrow you’re going to confess to Adrien and everything’s going to be different. I’m scared, and it makes me feel wretched to think…” He shook his head. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t lose me,” she attempted to assure him, but her words didn’t quite ring true.

He sat up and turned on the chaise to face her. “I’m losing you as we speak,” he laughed bitterly.

She looked away, but her hand found his, and she interlaced their fingers.

Silence echoed in Marinette’s room for a while as each was absorbed in his or her own dismally spiraling thoughts.

Chat swung his legs over the chaise and scooted closer so that they sat pressed together from knee to shoulder.

Marinette’s head naturally found a spot to rest on his shoulder, and his head tipped to rest against hers. Their entwined hands squeezed one another gently.

They sat like that for a long time, each haunted by his or her own demons, but both taking comfort in the other’s warmth beside them.

Marinette sighed and got up, lightly tugging him towards the ladder up to bed.

They hit the lights, and he shed his suit. They curled up together under the covers in their usual fashion, her back to him and his arms around her, without a word.

Fifteen minutes later, they were both still wide awake. Marinette turned over in his arms to face him, resting her cheek on his chest and snaking her arms around him.

He could feel the dampness of tears on her cheek against his skin, and it was oddly comforting. She may not have been in love with him, but she did love him. He was important to her. This relationship mattered enough to her that she was crying now that everything was coming to an end.

It was reassuring to learn that he wasn’t the only one who cared.

Marinette lifted her head to study his face. “May I kiss you? I know you said no kissing earlier, but could we just…” She nibbled on her lip. “Just a goodnight kiss. No tongue or making out or accidentally ending up naked together. Just…”

The pleading look in her eyes made Chat’s stomach flip. “You can kiss me any time you want, My Love.” He said it because it was the last time he’d be able to say it and because it was true.

She licked her lips unconsciously as she leaned in, and they brushed his softly like feathers. 

He was the one who pushed forward, increasing the pressure without deepening the kiss. 

She didn’t pull back, though. She didn’t pull back as one kiss became two became three became ten.

It took a ridiculous amount of self-control to keep from surrendering himself to his desire for her like he usually did, and he could tell that she was fighting it too. Somehow they managed it, though. No groping. No tongue. No flurry of clothing articles raining from the sky. It was just a long series of sweet kisses between two people devastated by the prospect of losing one another.

Marinette finally broke it off. She pulled back and looked down at him, tears welling up in her eyes once more. She pressed a kiss to the corner of his eye and smiled like a lone candle guiding the way home in the darkness.

“Goodnight, Chat Noir,” she whispered, snuggling back into his arms.

“Goodnight, Marinette,” he answered with a kiss to the top of her head.

She fell asleep fairly quickly after that, but Chat couldn’t get his mind to shut off. It was too busy cataloguing everything he was losing.

That had been the last time they would snuggle and watch a movie. The last time she’d throw popcorn at him. The last time he’d use her lap as a pillow. They’d made dinner together for the last time. They’d held hands for the last time. They’d cuddled for the last time. He’d licked her neck for the last time the other day, and he hadn’t known it at the time. He’d seen her perfect body for the first and last time the day before, and now it felt like it’d happened too fast and he hadn’t had enough time to appreciate it.

They’d had their last kiss.

This was the last time he’d sleep in her bed with his arms around her.

He didn’t want tomorrow to come and bring the end of everything, but no one had the power to stop time forever, not even one of his father’s supervillains.

Chat took a deep inhale of the scent of Marinette’s strawberry shampoo and tried to focus on what he’d have to say to Marinette tomorrow: Marinette, you’re one of the most awesome people I know, and your friendship means the world to me, but there’s someone else I have my heart set on. Is there any way we can still stay friends?

The words felt woefully inadequate in his head, so he could only imagine how hollow and lame they’d come out when he actually said them to her.

Marinette, I’m desperately in love with you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it, but I’m a pathetic idiot who can’t give up on a girl who’s consistently turned me down for several years now and shows no sign of changing her mind about me. Would it be possible for us to continue being friends with benefits so that I don’t have to give up on my feelings for either one of you? You see, I’m really a selfish bastard who can’t get his life together.

Chat mentally groaned. That sounded better and yet far worse all at the same time.

He looked down at Marinette and found himself thinking, “Is Ladybug worth this?”

The alarm clock jolted Chat awake before he was ready the next morning. He tried not to jostle Marinette too much as he reached up to shut it off.

“Don’t go,” Marinette muttered groggily as he reset the alarm for her.

“I have to,” he responded, gently extricating himself from her vine-like arms. “I need to get back before anyone realizes I slept away last night.”

She made a half-conscious gurgle of dissatisfaction, reaching out to grope for him as he pulled away.

“Go back to sleep, Princess,” he coaxed. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Stay. Something about it not being a nightingale…or a sparrow or something,” she yawned, curling into a comma around her pillow.

A familiar thought suddenly struck him: “Man, I love this girl.” It didn’t even register as unnatural that he was having this thought about Marinette instead of Ladybug.

He chuckled as he slipped back into his suit. “Princess, it is so sexy when you try to quote Shakespeare at me at six in the morning. I think you mean, ‘It was the nightingale, not the lark’.”

“Whatever,” she groaned, flailing an arm at him. “Stupid play about hormonal teenagers. Stay.”

“You are going to get me in trouble.” He wasn’t sure if he meant now specifically or if he was referring to some event yet in the nebulous future.

He placed his cat ears on his head and paused, realizing that he had run out of legitimate reasons to stall and that it was now time to leave, never to return in quite the same way.

He leaned over and kissed the exposed, right side of her neck in what he had come to consider “his spot”, right above the juncture where her neck met her shoulder. He gave it a little nip and a quick suck before placing a gentle kiss of apology over the same spot.

One last time.

“I love you, Marinette,” he whispered.

For the final time.

He pulled away and was surprised when she sat up and looked at him clear-eyed.

“I need to tell you something.” She grabbed his hand and began tracing patterns on his palm.

He inclined his head towards hers.

“I…” She bit her lip. “I…am…”

Her whole body tensed; he could feel it in the way she gripped his hand.

“You are…?” he encouraged.

Her hands trembled. There was pure terror in her eyes.

And then, abruptly, the tension left her. Her shoulders sagged, and her gaze dropped to his hand.

After several very long seconds passed, she seemed to come to a decision. She picked up his hand in her left, pulling off his glove and starting to trace letters slowly with her right index finger.

M D C

She paused before adding “=” and then went still again.

“You are…?” he whispered.

She drew a single, vertical line like the letter “I” from his wrist to just above his fingers. Her finger began to move right almost imperceptibly, as if making an “L”, but she stopped before he could be certain.

She stared at his palm for a long while without picking up her finger, as if she couldn’t decide whether she really wanted to finish the letter or not. Finally, with a sigh, she flattened her palm against his and rubbed back and forth, as if to smear and erase what she had written.

“I am going to get you killed,” she muttered, apologetically.

Chat frowned, struggling to make this conversation make sense. “What do you mean?”

She shook her head, looking up at him with a fake smile. “By your father, if he finds out you’re sleeping with me—sleeping in my bed with me,” she laughed nervously. “You should go.”

He only hesitated a moment, briefly considering pressing her for the truth, before nodding in agreement.

“I love you, Minou.” She darted forward to nip-kiss his nose, and he laughed.

“See you later, Princess.” With a wink and a quick kiss to her forehead, he was off.

“This is hell,” Adrien groaned, leaning up against Marinette’s locker. “Dante was wrong. This is hell.”

Nino rolled his eyes. “You are the only one who still reads all those old, dusty books.”

“I spent the first thirteen years of my life in a fancy, home-schooled prison called the Agreste Mansion.” Adrien flicked at the brim of Nino’s hat. “I had a lot of time on my hands. Besides, a lot of those books are still really good. I loved The Count of Monte Cristo.”

“Too long;” Nino reported. “didn’t read. You know, a lot of guys would say you were in heaven. If I weren’t already engaged to be engaged to the love of my life, I would be jealous of all the attention you’re getting from the ladies.”

Adrien crossed his arms and began to pout. “I’m not allowed to eat the chocolate and baked goods, and I have to worry about girls getting akumatized when I tell them no. What is so great about Valentine’s Day? I guess it would be fun if I were a normal human being without any prior attachments, but I’m not,” he sighed. “I’m Adrien freaking Agreste, supermodel (registered trademark), and I’m only interested in attention from…”

He had almost said “one girl”, but, if he were being completely honest, it would be more correct to say “two girls”.

His train of thought was unexpectedly derailed, however, when the girl he had been waiting for walked into the locker room.

He instantly perked up. “…Marinette.” Adrien turned to Nino, suddenly nervous. “Do I look okay?”

Nino attempted not to laugh. “Mec, you’re Adrien freaking Agreste, supermodel (registered trademark). You always look runway ready.”

“Please don’t patronize me,” Adrien grumbled, futzing with the collar of his pink polo shirt. “Do I look okay?”

Nino raised an eyebrow at Adrien’s out of character nerves. “Yeah. Dude, you look great…. Are you still planning on turning Marinette down?”

“Yes, of course,” Adrien responded immediately with a blink of confusion. “Why do you ask?”

Nino shrugged as he turned to greet Marinette as she approached. “Sup, ma pote.”

Marinette laughed as she lifted her chin a little in greeting. “Sup, Nino. What’s DJ Wifi doing for Valentine’s Day?”

Nino tsked and shook a finger at her. “You’ll tell Alya, and it’s supposed to be a surprise.”

“Come on,” Marinette wheedled, tugging on his arm. “I’m good at keeping secrets.”

Nino snorted at the irony. “I know you are, but I’m still not telling you. Move along, Enemy Spy.” He gave her shoulder a playful nudge.

Marinette threw up her hands in defeat and turned to her locker—to Adrien who was still leaning against her locker. She smiled shyly. “Hi.”

“Hey, Marinette.” His entire face lit up. “You’re gorgeous.” Adrien blinked. “I mean, you look gorgeous…in that dress. The dress looks you…” He clamped a hand over his mouth and took a deep breath. “Sorry. Didn’t get much sleep last night. I meant that your dress looks gorgeous. Did you make it yourself?”

It took Marinette’s brain a minute to come back online. She looked down at her dress with the off-the-shoulder black knit top and the lime green tulle skirt. She fingered the gold bell on her leather choker self-consciously as she screwed up her courage to respond. “T-Thank you, Adrien. Yes. This is one of mine.”

Adrien’s eyes followed her fingers. He really wanted to give the bell a flick.

“I just felt like dressing up for Valentine’s Day,” she explained, starting to get flustered and make flailing gestures with her hands. “I don’t know why I picked this. I’ve never worn it before. I suppose today is as good a day as any to wear it for the first time. I didn’t actually intend to wear it myself when I made it, but, for some reason, it just seemed appropriate, you know? I guess…what’s that saying? Dress for the boyfriend you want, not—Wait! No!”

Marinette’s hands flew up to cover her mouth as she stared at Adrien in horror.

Adrien started to fall over but managed to catch himself.

Nino burst out laughing. “Wow. You two are in rare form today. It’s gonna be a great day. I can feel it. Please, continue.”

“I don’t know why I said that!” Marinette squeaked and attempted to change the topic. “You look really nice in pink and grey!”

Truthfully, his grey and pink plaid pants reminded her of Chat’s “lucky” boxers, so seeing the same color scheme on Adrien immediately put Marinette’s mind in a dangerous place. This was probably a poor choice for a topic change.

“Uh…thanks.” Adrien grinned sheepishly, heavily relying on the locker behind him to keep himself upright. “I don’t know why I picked this outfit today either.”

Nino snorted. “Maybe your subconscious was telling you to dress for the girlfriend you want…but it looks like she wants Chat Noir, Dude.”

“Nino!” Adrien and Marinette shrieked in unison.

“Nino, I think you should probably go make out with your girlfriend now,” Adrien suggested, giving his best friend a pointed glare.

Nino held up his hands in surrender and slowly backed away, smirking the entire time. “I know when I’m not wanted. Enjoy the rest of your conversation.”

Marinette sighed, running her hand through her hair. “My mind was elsewhere while I was getting dressed this morning. I’m trying not to read too much into it.”

“I know the feeling.” Adrien echoed her sigh. “I’ve been distracted all week.”

She nodded and then it seemed almost as if she were looking behind him.

Adrien glanced over his shoulder and came to a realization. “Oh. Sorry. You’d probably like to get into your locker, but I’m standing in your way like an idiot.” He stepped to the side.

“You’re fine,” she assured, stepping in to spin the dial and gather her books for class. “You’re not an idiot…. Did you need something, though? Why were you waiting in front of my locker? I mean, it looked like you were waiting. Maybe you were just standing there. I don’t know what you could possibly need from me, now that I really think about it. That was kind of presumptuous of me. I’m sorry. I—”

“—Marinette.” He reached out and caught hold of one of her wildly waving hands. He smiled shyly and produced a pale pink rose. “Normally, I’d be able to say that it went with your outfit, but… I was waiting for you. I wanted to give you this and tell you Happy Valentine’s Day, Marinette.”

Marinette looked at the rose and then back at Adrien like she wasn’t sure if this was happening in real life or just in her imagination.

“You… Why?” she managed to spit out. “Why me? Did… Are you giving other people roses too?”

He blushed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Uh…no. You see, I wanted to get you something because I think you’re really amazing, Marinette. You’re such a good friend, and I feel really lucky to have you in my life, so I just wanted to get you something to show how much I appreciate you. I mean, I can’t imagine a world without you, Marinette. I want you by my side forever.”

Marinette opened her mouth and closed it several times. She looked at the rose in her hand. She looked at her other hand in Adrien’s. She took in the expression of pure adoration on his face.

Marinette was very, very confused.

“…You mean…as a friend,” she attempted to clarify.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, seeming to realize that he needed to stop holding her hand now. He stepped back and fidgeted in embarrassment.

“Okay…. Thank you.” Marinette nodded, storing the rose in her locker and grabbing her books. She still wasn’t sure if she’d somehow fallen into an alternate universe.

“May I walk you to class?” Adrien held out his arm to her as she closed and locked her locker door.

She studied him for a minute, noting with amusement that he kind of reminded her of Chat. She smiled and nodded, taking his arm and letting him escort her.

Marinette had not taken the opportunity Adrien had afforded her to confess. He’d thought that she’d tell him in the morning first thing if he waited for her by her locker, but she hadn’t brought it up.

Then, thinking maybe she wanted to confess somewhere more private, Adrien had invited her to walk to class with him, but she hadn’t said anything.

Adrien kept looking back behind him throughout class. Sometimes he’d catch Marinette’s gaze, and she’d smile self-consciously back at him, occasionally returning a finger wave or fiddling with the bell on her choker.

During second period, Nino reached over to write in the margins of Adrien’s history notebook: “Dude, what is going on? What’s up with the flirting in class? And this morning? What you said when you gave her the rose. I couldn’t tell if you were hardcore friend-zoning her or confessing your undying love. What are you doing?”

Adrien’s brow furrowed, and he wrote back, “Good question.”

The look Nino gave him in response was not amused.

Lunchtime rolled around, and Marinette had still not pulled Adrien aside to confess to him, so he thought he’d give her another opportunity.

“Marinette, would you want to go get lunch with me? My treat,” he offered.

Marinette looked to Alya for guidance.

Alya rolled her eyes and pushed her friend forward. “What are you looking at me for? Tell him yes,” she chuckled.

Marinette tripped, but Adrien caught her with a kind, reassuring smile before she could hit the ground. “You don’t have to have lunch with me if you don’t want to, but I’d really be glad of your company, especially since Nino and Alya will be ditching us to do couple-y things.”

Marinette straightened up and laughed nervously. “I’d—Yeah. I would love to have you for lunch—I mean! I would love you—No! I love you! NO,” she whimpered.

He slipped his hand into hers and gave it a supportive squeeze. “I would love to have lunch with you too, Marinette.”

“Thanks,” she replied in a tiny voice, face as red as a pepper as he led her to walk along the Seine in the direction of the Pont Saint-Michel.

Chapter Text

Adrien and Marinette passed the booksellers and their green painted stalls as they walked along the Seine, her hand still in his. He brought her to a stop in front of the lapis blue storefront of the Assa Café.

“Do you like Japanese food?” he asked tentatively, already knowing the answer but not wanting to assume she felt like Japanese food right that moment. “This place has some awesome matcha tiramisu. We can go someplace else, if you’d rather, though,” he hastily added.

“No, this is perfect, actually.” Her face lit up in recognition. “I know it’s only a couple blocks from my house, but I’ve never been here. I have a friend who likes this place, though, and he’s been meaning to take me, but we don’t get out much because he’s…kind of recognizable, so we have to be discrete. He says the same thing about their matcha tiramisu.”

“Wow, how serendipitous,” he chuckled, opening the door for her and dipping into a bow. “After you, Princess.”

Marinette froze and blinked.

Realization struck her but then slipped away before she could really catch hold of it.

She shook her head and smiled bashfully. “Thank you. Sorry. Just got a weird sense of déjà vu for a minute there.”

He straightened up and followed her in with a sigh under his breath. “Yeah, I figured.”

They got their food from the counter and took a seat at the table farthest from the door with Marinette sitting on the bench up against the wall and Adrien in the chair across from her.

“Do you come here often? You seemed pretty knowledgeable about the menu when we were ordering,” Marinette wondered, making small talk as she scooped up a sliver of mushroom and slice of red pepper with her chopsticks.

“At least once a month. For the tiramisu,” he confessed. “Even though it’s quote-unquote ‘fast food’, it’s still healthy, so my father wouldn’t be too upset if he found out. I mean, even matcha is full of antioxidants. I actually really like coming here to practice my Japanese with the staff.”

Marinette looked up, dropping a piece of tofu. “You speak Japanese? I thought you studied Chinese.”

Adrien grinned sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Officially, I study Chinese. Unofficially, I watch a lot of anime, so I’ve picked it up from there. I’ve also taught myself some over the years so that I can read manga in Japanese. My father can’t tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese script, so I can get away with reading comics in Japanese when I’m supposed to be studying Chinese.”

“What a rebel,” Marinette snickered. “You know, Nino’s always trying to tell me what a huge dork you are, but I don’t think I really believed him until now. You are pretty nerdy. I mean, who learns another language in order to read comic books on the sly?”

“Oh no,” Adrien feigned horror. “She’s discovered my secret. Who would have thought pretty boy Adrien Agreste was such a geek? Do you think less of me now that you know I’m not perfect?”

Marinette sucked in a huge breath. “Oh my gosh! I just called you a nerd. I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to call you a nerd! I think it’s cute that you’re nerdy! I didn’t mean to insult you! I think you’re amazing! I—”

“—Marinette, slow down,” he laughed. “It’s fine. I…really am a nerd, and I’m kind of okay with that…. And I think you’re pretty cute and amazing too.”

Her lips rounded into a startled “o” as her face, neck, and ears slowly turned red. She spent nearly a minute staring at him in shock before she managed to vocalize a thought. “Oh. Wow.” She looked down into her bowl in embarrassment, a pleased smile slowly stretching across her lips. “Thank you, Adrien. That’s really sweet of you.”

It suddenly occurred to him that this could be considered flirting with her and that that was not what he wanted to be doing. “Way to lead her on, Agreste.”

“You’re welcome. I feel really lucky to have such a cute, amazing friend like you,” he attempted to recover but ended up laying it on a little thick. “I don’t know what I would do if we couldn’t be friends anymore.”

Her soft, content smile morphed into a moue of disappointment.

She chuckled half-hearted. “Yeah. Friends.”

She wanted to ask him if he were trying to give her whiplash.

She stuffed a whole cube of tofu into her mouth and made a point of looking out the shop window.

He cleared his throat, tensing at the abrupt change in the atmosphere. “So…how about this Valentine’s Day we’re having?”

She shrugged, poking at her rice with a thoughtful hum. “Somehow it doesn’t feel like Valentine’s Day without an akuma attack.”

Adrien winced. “Please don’t jinx it.”

Marinette shrugged again. “Can I really jinx it if it’s one hundred percent going to happen anyway?”

Adrien stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. “You’re usually so positive…when you’re not catastrophizing…what’s with the pessimism?”

“Today is not my favorite day of the year, and it’s a rough day for a lot of people.” Marinette forgot her manners and gestured with her chopsticks. “Many people get their hearts ripped out, so it’s a prime day for akumatization. Plus, I have this theory that Papillon especially despises Valentine’s Day and wants to mess it up for everyone else because his wife left him or something.”

Adrien’s face went ashen.

Marinette immediately took note. “Are you okay?”

“Super,” Adrien lied through his teeth. “So…anyone confess to you yet?”

Marinette went back to poking at her rice. “No one is going to confess to me. Well—No. I don’t think that this morning counts.” She looked up at him. “Do you think it counts if a guy tells you he loves you—and, I mean, he means it. I know he means it—but he’s also in love with someone else, and he’s consistently picked her over you every time you’ve given him the opportunity to change his mind and ask you out?”

Adrien bit his lip and averted his eyes. Suddenly the hunk of salmon in his bowl seemed fascinating. “Um…I don’t know. I think guys like that who mess around with more than one girl and can’t make up their minds deserve to be shot, but…I don’t think it counts unless he tells you he loves you and then asks you out.”

Marinette nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah. No. No one’s confessing to me today. Has anyone confessed to you yet?”

Adrien groaned. “You have no idea.”

“Wow,” Marinette giggle-snorted. “Sucks to be rich and handsome and popular. You know, some guys would kill for the ability to have a different girl for every day of the week.”

“Yeah, well it sucks when you only want…” He trailed off as he looked up at her.

She was staring at him with a morbid curiosity. She wanted to know what he had been about to say, but, at the same time, she was terrified of the prospect.

“Kagami?” she guessed.

He grimaced. “No. Kagami’s just a friend…. That was Nino’s first guess too. Why does everyone think it’s Kagami?”

“Kagami seems more realistic than Chloé or Lila.” Marinette shrugged her left shoulder nonchalantly, not overthinking it. “Kagami may be cutthroat and cold, but at least she’s cool. That seems like a good fit for you. Better than the last few models that your girlfriend-of-the-month-club membership has gotten you.”

Adrien winced.

Marinette played back what she had just said in her head and winced as well. “Sorry! I don’t know why I said that. That sounded really judgmental, didn’t it? I didn’t mean—”

“—It’s okay. I feel like maybe I deserved it?” Adrien chewed on the inside of his cheek. “I do kind of come off as…sort of casual about relationships, don’t I?”

“Not at all!” She waved her hands frantically. “I didn’t mean that! I mean, it’s none of my business who you date, and it certainly isn’t my place to judge you for changing girlfriends a lot, regardless of the fact that it’s hard on your fans.”

Adrien’s head slowly tipped to the side. “Hard on my fans?”

Marinette shifted uncomfortably. “I mean…I might belong to one or two of your fan clubs online, and some of the girls on the forums get really upset whenever you get a new girlfriend. It actually makes me feel kind of bad how invested they get in your relationship status. I mean, I’ve always thought that as long as you were happy and your girlfriend loved you—”

Marinette clapped a hand over her mouth, forcing herself to stop before she gave too much away.

Adrien blinked. “I hadn’t ever…considered…” Now he felt really lousy. He sighed. “You see, this is why I don’t like being confessed to on Valentine’s Day. I hate hurting people, but I’m really bad at saying no, so whenever I do have to turn people down, it’s always a disaster. It’s enough to give me anxiety.”

“I think you do a good job of turning people down,” Marinette offered tentatively.

He blinked. “You…do…?”

She nodded encouragingly. “I saw you turn down six people yesterday, and you were really kind and delicate about it, even with that pest Lila.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “Well…I guess that’s a relief. I’m not sure how much a difference it makes, being turned down kindly, but at least I don’t come off as a jerk.”

The conversation suddenly reached a lull where they both picked at their meals and generally avoided eye contact as neither was sure quite what to say to the other. Out of nowhere, things felt awkward.

“So…” Adrien took a deep breath and finally broached the subject he felt like he had been dancing around all week. “…is there anyone that you’re going to confess to today?”

Marinette jumped, one of her chopsticks almost flying out of her hand. “What?! Uh…n-no. No one to confess to. Certainly not,” she chuckled, but it sounded like she was choking on something.

He pursed his lips. Was he being too direct and making her uncomfortable? It definitely looked like it. Maybe he should just back off and let her confess on her own terms instead of trying to force it out of her so that he could just get this part over with like he’d been trying to do all day.

“I thought…maybe you’d be confessing to Luka,” he forged ahead lamely.

Marinette sighed. “Everyone thinks it’s Luka…. Maybe. He’s certainly attractive, and we do have chemistry, but…not right now. I’m kind of…stuck…at the moment. Maybe if I ever manage to move on, but…” Feeling backed into a corner, she turned the tables on him. “Are you confessing to anyone?”

He stabbed at his salmon, peeling a section away from the scaly skin. “Uh…no,” he decided. “I was thinking about it, but…it’s a bad idea,” he confessed with a sigh. “I think it’s about time I gave up.”

Marinette bit her lip, looking conflicted. At the same time, she seemed to be glad he was moving on and yet she was disappointed for his sake. “…I’m really sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he urged, summoning up a weak excuse for a smile. “Honestly? It’s probably for the best. I’ve spent long enough pining after an impossibility, and the people who really do love me have been telling me to jump ship for a couple years now because they don’t want me hurt.”

“Then you should listen to them,” Marinette insisted with an odd intensity. “It’s no fun pining after someone with no hope. It slowly wears you down, and I wouldn’t want that for you, Adrien. I…have a dear friend who’s in a situation like that, and it just kills me every time he refuses to give her up…. You shouldn’t let her hurt you anymore.”

A slow smile rose on Adrien’s lips like a sunrise. He grinned at her softly, unable to express how grateful he was that she cared about him—both Chat and Adrien—enough to cry and get upset for them.

“You’re really wonderful, Marinette,” he sighed contentedly. “Such a good friend…. Do you have any plans for tonight?”

“Nope,” she groaned, sitting back in the bench seat and resting her head against the wall behind her. “While everyone wants to be my friend, and some people even consider me good enough to possibly sleep with, no one seems interested in dating me.”

Adrien flinched. That would be him on both counts. Why did he treat this amazing girl like crap just so another amazing girl could keep rejecting him every time he asked?

“What about Nathaniel?” he remembered. “He had a crush on you a couple years ago, didn’t he? …Before he started dating Marc. And Nino did too before he and Alya started dating. And…well, I mean there is Luka. And Max had a thing for you about two years ago. Then there was that time for a week where Kim gave up on Chloé and decided he liked you a few months ago. That’s not even counting guys from other classes, but the only guy from our class that I think has escaped your charms is Ivan, and that’s only because he’s already spoken for.”

“You’re forgetting someone,” Marinette chuckled wryly.

Adrien blinked, mentally going through the class roster. “That’s all the guys in the class.”

She shook her head. “You’re forgetting you. Apparently, my quote-unquote ‘charms’ don’t work on models because you and anther model that I know both seem immune to them.”

He caught himself before he could scoff, “Hardly” and make everything more complicated.

“But that’s still a long list of guys who would have loved to date you. You’re actually really popular,” he offered instead.

She paused with a piece of tofu halfway to her mouth, suspended in the air by her chopsticks as she considered this fact. “I suppose…maybe I’ve just been too notoriously in love with someone else, so no one bothers asking me out because they know it’s hopeless. Juleka has pretty much straight up told me that Luka was waiting until I was emotionally available. It’s probably my own fault that I’m going to be sitting at home alone tonight.”

She popped the piece of tofu into her mouth and chewed as Adrien internally warred with himself and his feelings for Marinette and for Ladybug.

“So what big, romantic plans do you have for tonight?” Marinette looked up at him with friendly curiosity, as if she were resigned to the fact that she was squarely in the friend zone with him.

“I…actually don’t have anything on the schedule,” he admitted. “I’ll probably be just sitting around the house like you.”

Her expression went from curious to perplexed. “…Didn’t you say you had plans tonight? I watched you turn down six girls yesterday, saying you already had plans. Were you just using that as an excuse to turn them down gently or something?”

Adrien gave a start. “Oh!” He’d forgotten. “I…” he chuckled sheepishly. “I actually thought someone would be confessing to me today and then I’d be spending the evening with them, but…that…hasn’t happened yet.”

Marinette gave a nod of understanding, going back to picking at her food. She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “There’s still time…. Do you mind me asking who it is?”

Adrien chewed on the inside of his check. “Just…a friend. A friend. I overheard that she had feelings for me and was planning on confessing today, so…” He rubbed at the back of his neck and sighed. “…I’ve been really conflicted all week what with struggling with my feelings for the other girl I mentioned and then with what to tell my friend. Because my friend is really phenomenal, and I don’t want to hurt her or my friendship with her. Then there’s the fact that if it weren’t for the girl that I already have a crush on, I probably would have fallen for my friend, so…needless to say, I’ve had a confusing week.”

Marinette nodded knowingly, a melancholy smile coming to her face as she reached up and touched her neck just above where it met her shoulder.

Adrien tensed, eyes following the gesture. That was his—Chat Noir’s—spot. The spot he always kissed and bit and sucked and licked.

“I know how you feel,” she chuckled sadly, fingers still tracing his spot. “I’m in almost exactly the same situation with a friend of mine. If not for the guy I already have a crush on, I would have been a goner for him ages ago.”

She looked up and grinned, a giddy smile of acceptance. “You know, I might still be. I’m pretty sure I’m at least half in love with him.”

Adrien dropped his chopsticks.

She shook her head. “No. I’ve been lying to myself about how I feel for him for a while now. I am in love with him.”

She blinked and seemed to come back to herself, finally taking in the floored expression on Adrien’s face. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I—”

“—You love him?” Adrien cut her off before he could lose his chance to ask. “As in, you’re actually in love with him, not just how you love, say, Alya or Nino? Not just as a friend but actually…?”

Marinette frowned at the urgency in his voice but consented to answer. “Yes. I am in love with him.”

Adrien gulped. “So…if he asked you out…you’d…?”

“Say yes,” she laughed, beginning to find his frantic state amusing.

Adrien pursed his lips. His mind was whirling, and it felt like he was trying to catch soap bubbles without popping them as they rained down around him. “But…what about the other guy you have a crush on?”

She shrugged. “What about him?”

“Don’t you…? I thought… Do you not love him?” Adrien looked at her piteously.

A warm, affectionate smile tugged at Marinette’s lips. “I do love him.”

“But…” It felt like his mind was a tire spinning futilely in the mud. “You said you loved Ch—the other guy!”

“Adrien, you can love more than one person at a time,” she gently broke the news to him. “My friend loves me as well as the other girl, but that doesn’t mean that he loves either one of us less because of it.”

“So…you…” Finally the pieces were coming together. “You love them both,” Adrien whispered.

She nodded, a light blush rising on her cheeks. “I love them both.”

She loved him both.

It felt like a door slamming with an odd sense of finality in his chest. He was pretty sure his head was floating off somewhere because it didn’t feel like it was attached to his shoulders anymore.

She loved both Chat and Adrien. She loved all of him…and here he was trying to convince the both of them that she was just a friend and that things had to stay that way.

He’d been so blind, so stupid. Plagg had been right. What was he doing? How could he even consider giving Marinette up?

With a sigh, Adrien reached across the table and took Marinette’s hands in his own. “Marinette, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Her eyes widened, and she leaned in curiously, cautiously.

“I—”

He was cut off by a crash and the sounds of screaming.

They sighed in unison.

“That would be the akuma attack,” she chuckled bitterly, pulling away.

He was tempted to tell her that this was more important than the akuma attack; forget the akuma attack, but…

He groaned in frustration. “This is exactly my luck.”

Marinette shrugged. “I suppose we should go hide in the bathrooms and wait this thing out.”

Adrien shook his head. “My father has designated ‘safe houses’ that he insists that I go to during attacks. I had better make my way to the closest one or I’ll be in for a lecture later…. You should come with me.”

He could drop Marinette off and still make it in time to fight the supervillain.

She waved away his offer. “No, I’m good. Thanks, though. Did you know the guidebook that the city published says that it’s better to remain where you are in the event of an attack unless your area is under immediate threat? It also says that walking around in a group makes you more conspicuous than trying to sneak around on your own. I wouldn’t want to make you conspicuous.”

“They published a guidebook?” Part of Adrien couldn’t believe it. The other part was thinking, “Of course they did.”

Marinette shrugged, chuckling as she got up and began making her way towards the women’s restroom. “Text me after the attack to let me know you’re safe. I’ll see you back at school?”

“Yeah,” he readily agreed. “Make sure you text me too.”

“Will do.” She turned with a finger salute, disappearing around the corner.

Adrien took off to find a convenient alley while Marinette transformed inside of the bathroom stall.

“This job is making me start to hate holidays,” Ladybug sighed, throwing up her Lucky Charm so that the magic could repair the damage the supervillain had done.

“Here I was thinking that this made me appreciate holidays even more. I mean, my Valentine’s Day is at least going better than his, and Christmas and New Year’s weren’t bad either,” Chat chuckled, extending his fist towards her.

She smiled, bumping her fist against his. “Well played…. Thanks for your help today, Chat Noir.”

“It was an honor,” he assured with a theatrical bow.

Her earrings beeped, and she got out her yoyo to go.

“Hey, could I trouble you for a minute of your time?” He stepped forward tentatively, holding up a hand as if to reach for her. His expression turned unsure, and he retracted his hand.

Ladybug, feeling like she knew what this was about, pasted on a fake smile and nodded. “Sure. I’ve got four to spare. You’ve only got three, though, so we’d better make this quick.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why did you suddenly go all tense?”

Ladybug bit her lip. “I…didn’t go tense…. I’m cold.”

He frowned, and she got the distinct impression that he felt put out. “You look like you’re bracing for me to punch you.”

She sighed. “Because you are. You’re going to tell me you love me again, and I’m going to have to tell you I can’t return your feelings again, and I hate doing this, Chat Noir. I hate hurting you, but I can’t be in a relationship with you. Ladybug can’t be in a relationship with anyone, and…I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore.” She visibly deflated, looking up at him wearily.

“I can’t either,” he whispered gently, sadly smiling at her. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. It’s been pretty apparent for a while that things aren’t going to change between you and me. I’ve been holding on to foolish optimism for far too long, and it’s only been hurting everyone involved. I don’t think I’ll ever truly stop loving you, Milady, but I’m going to stop waiting for you to fall in love with me.”

Ladybug pursed her lips. She could feel the start of tears building behind her eyes as she hesitantly took half a step forward. “Chat Noir…I…”

Her earrings beeped, counting down the minutes. She touched them self-consciously.

He shook his head and put on a brave smile. “It’s okay, Ladybug. You don’t have to say anything. I think we can both agree that it’ll be better if we just stay friends.”

She almost choked trying to stifle a laugh, and he took it the wrong way.

“No!” she hurried to assure. “Not you! I was laughing because…I’m sorry. My crush has been alternating between telling me things like how he wants me in his life forever and how I’m cute and amazing and how he can’t imagine his world without me and…” She grimaced. “…and telling me what a great friend I am and how he hopes we can always be friends and how much my friendship means to him. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was just messing with me, but…he’d never do that. I’m seriously going to deck him if he says the word ‘friend’ one more time, though. Sorry.” She smiled sheepishly. “I just thought it was funny that I’ve been putting up with him all day, and now you’re friend-zoning me too.”

Chat shrugged off his odd sense of déjà vu and smiled. “To be fair, you friend-zoned me first…. Are we okay, Milady?”

Ladybug nodded. “Of course, Chaton. As Ladybug, I will always be your friend.”

He gave a short nod of agreement. “Good…. Even…if I decide I’m in love with somebody else and want to be with them?”

Ladybug’s mouth dropped open as Marinette internally gasped. “Yes! Yes, I—!”

She cut herself off as the facts of who and where she was at that moment hit her.

Ladybug cleared her throat, trying to push Marinette’s emotions down. “I mean, yes! Of course! If there’s someone else you love, you should definitely go for it!” She put her hands over her earrings to deaden the sound of their beeping. “I’ll always support you, Chat Noir.”

“Thanks, Ladybug.” His smile nearly knocked her over. And then, with a finger salute, he was off, calling, “Happy Valentine’s Day!” back over his shoulder.

Ladybug allowed Marinette a brief squeal of delight before getting out her yoyo and making her way back to the restaurant.

Marinette had one text from Adrien and two from Alya when she detransformed. She answered them almost on autopilot as she walked back to school. It felt like she was levitating; her entire body felt light and almost buoyant.

Chat really did love her.

The thought echoed in her mind the rest of the day, distracting her throughout class to the point where nothing else really registered.

As soon as the bell rang to signal the end of school, Marinette was out of her seat and halfway to the door. She had so much to do before Chat came to visit that evening. Picking out the perfect outfit alone would take a solid hour.

“Marinette!” Adrien called, chasing her down the hall and catching her by the wrist.

Marinette blinked. “Oh. Sorry, Adrien. Did you need something? I kind of have to go. I—”

“—Wait. Please.” His grip on her wrist tightened slightly. “It won’t take long. I just…”

Her eyes met his, and his voice caught in his throat. All the lines he’d been rehearsing since lunch fled, abandoning him.

She smiled politely, but the impatience was evident in her eyes.

“Sorry. I…” He’d wanted to tell her before he lost his nerve, but…

“It’s okay,” she assured, genuine warmth and fondness in her voice. She reached out to pat his arm encouragingly. “You can text me later. Have a nice night, Adrien.”

She turned and trotted off, making it several feet before something made her stop and come back. “By the way, I don’t think I ever really thanked you properly for the rose this morning and for taking me to lunch. It was so kind and sweet of you to think of me.”

Before he could process what was going on, she reached out, cupping his cheeks in her hands and leaning in to press the lightest of all kisses to his lips. It was so sweet and airy and quick that he wasn’t quite sure if it had happened at all.

She pulled back and smiled up at him.

“Marinette…I…” he returned her gaze with pure longing.

“Thank you, Adrien.” She let go of him but kept smiling. “You’re such a wonderful friend.”

“I… What?” Adrien snapped out of his daze but was quickly thrown into a fog of confusion.

“And I hope we can always be friends like you were saying earlier because your friendship means the world to me,” she insisted, lifting precise phrases from the speeches he’d been practicing all week to say to her. “See you tomorrow!”

She was off to prepare for her evening with Chat Noir, leaving Adrien standing dumbly in the middle of the hall, feeling like he had whiplash.

“What?” he repeated, touching his fingertips to his lips.

He looked around and spotted Nino and Alya watching the spectacle.

“What just happened?” he inquired, hoping that someone would take pity on him and bend reality back into the shape it was supposed to be.

Nino came over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Mec…maybe that’s what closure looks like for Marinette…or she’s exacting her revenge for you screwing with her all day.”

“S-Screwing with her?” Adrien balked. “I haven’t been—”

“—Dude,” Nino cut him off with the incline of an eyebrow. “You’ve been yanking her chain all day with the romantic gestures and the lovesick gazes. Then you go and smack her over the head with ‘you’re such a great friend’ and ‘I hope we can always be friends’. That’s not even counting all the things you probably said to her on your lunch date. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Adrien visibly crumpled under Nino’s accusation. He softly cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair.

“Uh-huh. ‘Shit’ is right,” Nino affirmed. “And now she’s friend-zoned you back. Well, serves you right, don’t you think?”

Adrien glared at Nino, shoulders rising to his ears defensively. “Don’t you think you’re being kind of harsh?”

“Yes,” Nino snorted. “It’s called ‘tough love’.”

“I think I get enough of that at home,” Adrien grumbled.

Nino reached out and pinched Adrien’s cheek. “What you get at home is called abuse and neglect. You wouldn’t know what love looked like if she tripped over her own feet in front of you and then couldn’t string two decent sentences together. Don’t try to guilt trip me, Adrien. I’m doing this because I love you and I want you to be happy. You need to get your stuff together and tell Marinette you’re in love with her already.”

“I was trying to!” Adrien huffed in exasperation. “But then she kissed me and friend-zoned me!”

Nino blinked. “Oh…. Whoops. Sorry, Mec. I thought we were still in denial about our feelings.”

Adrien sighed, burying his face in his palms, rubbing roughly. “No. That was this morning. I got over the denial at lunch, and I was going to tell her, but then the akuma attacked.”

Nino sucked in a pained breath through his teeth. “Wow. Bad timing.”

“Always,” Adrien groaned, lowering his hands and looking pathetically at his friend. “Now what do I do?”

Nino clapped Adrien lightly on the back. “Go home and get your head on straight. Then, apologize to Marinette. Explain how mixed up you’ve been, and tell her that you’re sure now that she’s the one…. Sound doable?”

Adrien nodded, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “Yeah. Okay. I can do this.” He looked hesitantly at Nino. “…Are we okay?”

Nino gave his shoulder a solid clap. “Always, Mec. So long as you never tell Marinette what a great friend she is ever again. You two make me want to tear my hair out.”

Adrien laughed. “Are we really that bad?”

Nino rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “Dude, you two were made for each other. I can’t decide who’s worse. I mean, at least Marinette is funny when she freaks out.”

A fond smile stretched across Adrien’s face. “She is, isn’t she?”

Nino stifled a laugh as he reached out to muss Adrien’s hair. “You’re such a cute dope. See you tomorrow, Mec.”

Chapter Text

“Good evening, Prince—…Wow.” Chat stopped halfway through the skylight when what Marinette was wearing registered and struck him dumb.

“You like it?” she giggled, swiping at a loose bang. “I made it myself. Come in and see it better.”

She motioned for him to follow her down the ladder to the main floor, and she stopped in the center of her area rug to give a very professional-looking model’s turn for his viewing pleasure.

The bodice was red lace with all manner of interesting peekaboo cutouts, and the skirt was red satin, knee-length in front with a tail down to her calves in back. The spaghetti strap top had a sweetheart neckline that was especially flattering on Marinette when she wore her hair up in a classy chignon, as she did now.

“Do you like it?” she asked more shyly, and he realized that he had been staring for an unreasonably long time.

“I love it,” he whispered. “You’re gorgeous, Princess. And talented.” He stepped in to inspect the fabric. “All these little details…”

He looked up and realized he had his hands on her waist, his face too close to her chest. He gulped. “I think I like this one even better than the one you wore to school.”

“You saw that?” She smiled innocently as her arms snaked around his neck.

“Your choker nearly gave me a heart attack…. I really wanted to ring your bell,” he breathed, leaning in to touch his forehead to hers.

“Literally or figuratively?” she snickered, bringing a hand down to flick the bell on his zipper.

“Both,” he purred, unable to hide the hunger in his voice.

“Oh yeah?” Marinette giggled, completely forgetting everything she had meant to say to him, everything they needed to talk about.

He pulled her flush against him. “You do things to me, Marinette,” he whimpered, struggling against the urge to pull her down onto the chaise and kiss her silly. “I swear I didn’t come here to sleep with you.”

She made a noncommittal noise halfway between a hum and a moan as she tipped her head up to rub her nose against his. “Bob Ross always used to say that there was no such thing as mistakes, only happy accidents.”

“God, I want you,” he hissed, pulling back while still keeping his hands on her hips. “Why are you wearing that dress?”

“Felt like dressing up for Valentine’s Day.” She shrugged, gradually tugging him back in.

He drew on the depths of his willpower to gently push her back to arm’s length. “You don’t have a date, do you? Luka didn’t call you after school and ask you out or anything, did he? You can’t go on a date with another man dressed like that; I’ll die.”

She laughed openly, shaking her head. “No, no date. No official plans.”

“Good,” he sighed in relief, glad to be able to cross at least one thing off the list of things he needed to worry about. He tried to compose himself. “Okay. We…we need to talk.”

“Yeah,” she reluctantly agreed. “But talking is scary. I’d much rather kiss you first.”

“Why is talking scary?” he wondered, caught unawares.

She shrugged. “Because change is scary, and if we talk about things, things are going to change. I think it will all be for the better, but I have no way of knowing that for sure, so…I just want to kiss you—while I’m still me and you’re still you and we’re both the way we are now. Please?”

The hazy lust was gone from her eyes, replaced with a trembling uncertainty.

“My poor princess,” he hummed, smiling into the kiss.

It was a gentle meeting of lips, each taking small sips of the other’s warmth until Chat reluctantly pulled back.

“Okay?” he breathed, nuzzling her ear.

“One more?” she pleaded, baring her neck to him.

“One more,” he chuckled, leaning in to nibble gently.

She giggled, her arms pressing him closer as his teeth danced feather-light over her skin.

With a possessive lick and an apologetic kiss, he pulled back. “Okay?”

“Okay,” she confirmed and consented to be led over to the chaise.

“Now stay there, and try not to look sultry,” Chat instructed, going to lean against the ladder to the loft.

“You mean like this?” Marinette chuckled, reclining, bringing her feet up onto the seat and propping herself up on her elbow.

“You slay me,” he sighed. “but I am not sleeping with you until we talk, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

She sat back up and put on a demure front as she promised to behave herself.

That almost did him in too.

“So…let’s talk,” she sighed. “You go first, since this is your fault.”

“My fault?” he chuckled as he brought his left foot to rest on the bottom rung of the ladder. “How do you figure?”

“If it were up to me, we’d be making out right now. We wouldn’t be having this conversation for another forty-five minutes to an hour at least, and when we did have it, we’d both be naked and so blissed out that I wouldn’t be nervous and scared because I’m going to tell you my secret, and no one is stopping me this time. So this is your fault.”

He pursed his lips. “Yeah. I suck. Your plan definitely sounds better.”

“But it’s too late now, so we might as well get this over with,” she urged, looking at him expectantly.

“Okay,” he sighed. “So…you didn’t confess to Adrien Agreste today.”

It took Marinette a second to respond. She had to blink owlishly first. “This was not one of the things I thought that we needed to talk about.”

“It’s more relevant than it seems.” Chat smiled through his chagrin. “Did he do something wrong? I mean, besides all the flipflopping back and forth between heavily flirting with you and heavily implying that he only wanted to be friends?”

Marinette grimaced. “No. That was it, and that was bad enough. It wasn’t the end of the world, though. I mean, today was the first day that I really knew for sure that he does have feelings for me, even if he’s decided that he doesn’t want to act on them. It wasn’t a rejection, though, so that was nice.”

“So…you decided that there would be no point in confessing to him, since he didn’t seem open to the possibility of a relationship?” Chat tried to clarify and determine how much he’d screwed himself over with his indecision.

“No,” she responded without elaborating.

“No?” He bit his lip.

She shook her head. “I decided not to confess to Adrien before I even saw him today. His actions had nothing to do with it.”

Chat attempted not to let how confused he was show on his face. “But then…what made you change your mind?”

Marinette surreptitiously broke eye contact, pretending to find the opposite wall intriguing. “I’ve…kind of been having doubts all week…for the past two and a half weeks…three weeks on Sunday.”

He watched as a champagne pink blush slowly crept down her neck.

“Oh.” His throat felt dry as he remembered what had happened three weeks ago on Sunday: their first kiss.

She looked down at the bodice of her dress and distractedly traced the patterns in the lace with her finger. “It just kind of hit me as I was getting dressed this morning…I didn’t want to confess to Adrien anymore. I mean, I think a part of me will always love him—just like how you’ll always love Ladybug—but this morning I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, and it really hit me that confessing to Adrien wasn’t worth it…”

Her eyes darted up to find his. “…wasn’t worth losing you.”

With an adoring smile, Chat went to sit beside her on the chaise, keeping her just out of reach. “You will never lose me, Marinette.”

“Promise?” she smiled nervously, reaching out her hand and resting it on the seat between them.

He leaned in to place his hand on top of hers. “Promise…. So…you’re not mad at Adrien?”

She shook her head, easily shrugging the matter off. She flipped her palm over to take hold of his. “No. Not mad. I kind of wanted to slap him all day, but that was mainly out of frustration. I can’t very well be angry at him for being uncertain about his feelings. I have been uncertain about my own feelings for a long time, so…no need to metaphorically ‘throw stones’. Besides,” she chuckled bashfully, giving his hand a little squeeze. “I got him back pretty good at the end of the day. I honestly think I scrambled his brain a little.”

“A lot,” Chat snickered at his own expense. “You fried his brain, Princess.”

“I’ll have to apologize tomorrow,” she sighed. “Not just for that but for a bunch of little things that I said and did today. I was kind of irked by his ‘I love you…as a friend’ nonsense, so I might have been a little short with him and moody and…well, weirder than normal.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, Princess,” Chat assured.

She rolled her eyes. “I implied that he went through women like clothing.”

Chat waved her words away dismissively. “He deserved it. That will teach him to stop signing every single contract his father asks him to without reading it first.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Seriously? His father pimps him out like that?”

Chat winced. “It’s not like that. His father’s not selling him. Technically Adrien gets the money put in his trust fund for when he comes of age, and it’s not like he has to do anything…too intimate with anybody.”

“Still,” Marinette hummed thoughtfully. “I’ll have to apologize…and talk to him about this. I mean, as his friend, I think I have a duty to tell him that this really isn’t okay. He’s super sheltered, so he doesn’t have a clue sometimes that things aren’t okay.”

“You’re wonderful, My Love,” Chat chuckled.

The burst of pink blooming on her cheeks was priceless. “Yeah?” she laughed giddily.

“Yeah,” he insisted. “…You know I’m in love with you, right? Like, I’m seriously in love with you? I’m not exaggerating or joking or anything. You know that, right?”

Her blush spread as she nodded, trying to keep a smile of pure joy from splitting her face in two. “Yes. I’ve known for a while that you were serious about me…the same way you’re serious about Ladybug.”

He winced and opened his mouth to explain, but she cut him off.

“—You know that I love you too, don’t you?” Marinette’s eyes pierced him with a look of pure sincerity. “I know we talked the other night about how I never felt like I had the right to say it, but…you know that I meant that I’m in love with you, right? I’m in love with you every bit as much as I’m in love with Adrien.”

He could have melted into her arms right then and there. It took an incredible amount of discipline to stay the course and keep talking when all he wanted to do was kiss her.

“I…didn’t,” he admitted in embarrassment. “I didn’t realize until today. I’m sorry. I’m just not used to people loving me.” He paused, frowned. “That sounds bad. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant… It just never occurred to me that the most amazing woman on the face of this planet could return my feelings, so…it was hard to wrap my mind around.”

“You mean second most amazing,” Marinette corrected.

Chat shook his head. “I meant what I said. Marinette, I’ve been driving myself crazy this week trying to sort out my feelings. For the longest time now, I’ve been convinced that I couldn’t give up on Ladybug. When I started falling for you, I even tried to deny how I felt. You may have noticed over the past few months how I’ve slowly lost the ability to lie about how I feel about you. This week, I was so terrified of losing you that I thought over and over again, ‘Is Ladybug worth this?’ ‘Can I really give up Marinette like this without a fight?’ Ultimately…today…I decided that she’s not and I can’t. I love you.”

“But…” Marinette struggled to find her voice. She had known that this would be coming—if not tonight, then soon—but she hadn’t known what he was going to say or how it would affect her. She hadn’t known she would feel so overwhelmed.

She took a deep breath and issued one last test just to be certain before she threw herself into this relationship and tore down the barriers of secrets between them. “What about Ladybug?”

He shook his head. “Marinette, I’m sorry, but some part of me will always love Ladybug. It’s exactly what you said about you always loving Adrien. I can’t help that, but, if you can look past that…I already told Ladybug today that I’m through waiting for her. I told her that there was someone else I was in love with and wanted to be with.”

Despite the fact that Marinette had been there to witness this event, Chat’s confession still blew her away, and she gasped as if she really were surprised to be hearing this information.

He smiled at her with adoration as he confessed, “I love you. I pick you, Marinette. I want to be with you.”

“I love you, Chat Noir,” she whispered, leaning in for what should rightfully have been a very romantic kiss.

“Wait.” He placed a finger on her lips. “If I kiss you now, we’re not going to get to finish our conversation.”

“What’s left?” she groaned softly. “I picked you over Adrien; you picked me over Ladybug. We’re in love with each other, and we both obviously want to be making out now. I’ll tell you my secret later, so can’t we just kiss and get on to the Happily Ever After bit?”

“Patience, My Love,” he coaxed. “I am going to ask you out—”

“—You should hurry up and do it, so I can say yes already,” she pouted. “I have been waiting for you to give up on Ladybug and ask me out for a couple years now, after all.”

“—There’s just something I need to tell you first,” he finished.

She stuck out her lip and waited expectantly.

He gave her nose a poke, and her pout quickly transitioned into a smile.

“Minou,” she whined as if he were being unfair.

“I’m afraid I’m serious,” he informed her apologetically. “There’s something you need to know before this goes any further.”

That got her attention. She sat up straighter and angled her body towards his. “Minou?” She took his other hand in her free one.

“I’m sorry. I might have accidentally overheard some things you wouldn’t have said if you had known who I was, who you were talking to,” he led in.

She frowned. “Things that I said to you as Chat or…?”

“Mostly to Chat, but a little bit on the other side of the mask too. I never meant to abuse your trust, Marinette, and I swear this whole time I thought that you had a crush on Luka, but…”

Her frown deepened. “I don’t understand.”

“You will in a sec,” he sighed, blowing out a shaky breath. “Just know I never meant to hurt you and that this week has been hell for me, trying to figure out my feelings and how to deal with them.”

“Minou?” He could feel the tension in her body through her hands. She was scared.

He was scared, but…

“Detransformation.”

Marinette gasped, squeezing her eyes shut before she could see. “Chat Noir!” she squeaked. “What are you doing?! I can’t know who you are! We can’t—! I can’t—! You can’t just—!”

She tried not to think of how warm his hands suddenly felt in hers without the gloves. The fingernails were no longer sharp claws but regular, human fingernails.

“Marinette,” he called softly. “Calm down.”

“How am I supposed to be calm? I can’t know who you are, Chat.” She was struggling to breathe normally.

“You should open your eyes and look at him already,” Plagg advised, beginning to search the room for likely Tikki hiding spots. “You’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

“Is that Plagg?” Marinette grumbled. “Plagg, did you know he was going to do this?”

Plagg shrugged, spotting a promising nook and going to investigate. He grinned when he came face to face with his other half. “I mostly let him make his own bad decisions. Unlike Tikki, I don’t micromanage.”

Tikki pulled a face but still motioned him into her den.

“Marinette, please look at me,” Adrien begged. “I don’t want to force you if you’re not ready, but you really need to know who I am before I can start a relationship with you. We can’t be together unless you know what you’re signing up for.”

“Chat, if I know your identity, Papillon could potentially use me against you. You could get killed, and it would be all my fault,” she explained, a pleading note in her voice.

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means being with you.” Adrien gently began rubbing careful circles on her palms with his thumbs. “How am I supposed to marry you if you don’t know who I am?”

“W-What?” Her eyes flickered open briefly, but she squeezed them closed again with a squeak before she could make out more than a blur of blonde.

“I want to marry you,” Adrien repeated with a deadly seriousness.

“Minou, we are seventeen years old.” Marinette’s head was spinning, and she had to force herself to focus. Her mind had already started wondering off to plan their wedding and their house and their future children.

“Nino decided he wanted to marry Alya when we were fifteen,” Adrien snorted.

“We are not Nino and Alya,” Marinette scoffed.

“No. They were smart enough to figure out they liked each other after spending an afternoon locked in a panther cage. It’s taken us four years to get our act together.” Adrien had to laugh at the irony.

“How can you want to marry me already? You just decided that you were picking me over Ladybug today,” Marinette rejoined, losing track of the real point of their argument.

Adrien didn’t respond right away, and, when he did, it was with a nervous chuckle. “I’ve wanted to marry you for a while now. I just…at the same time, I wanted to marry Ladybug too. Sorry. I know that’s weird, but…someone told me today that it’s possible to love two people at the same time without either love diminishing the other.”

Marinette froze as an odd tingle of déjà vu came over her. She shook it off. “Okay. Fine, but I still can’t know your identity, Chat. It’s too dangerous.”

“All right,” Adrien relented. “You don’t have to open your eyes right now, but you can’t keep them closed forever. I can wait you out.”

“What?” Marinette frowned as she heard him lean forward, felt his weight distribution shift on the chaise.

“I promise I won’t let anything happen, Marinette. Open your eyes,” he whispered, getting closer. “I love you.”

And then his lips were on hers in a gentle, hesitant kiss. His mouth entreated her shyly, Chat’s usual confidence gone.

She returned his kiss, pressing forward to move her lips along with his.

Her arms snaked around his neck, her hands running through his hair. It was different without being different. The cat ears were missing, and the hairstyle had been neater than Chat’s usual look until Marinette had gotten her hands on it.

Her hands slowly descended to explore his ears and neck.

He laughed into the kiss and pulled back to give her access to the rest of his face.

She tentatively ran her fingers over his chin, lips, nose, and all around his eyes where the mask should have been. She spent an extra long time touching where the mask should have been.

“Open your eyes, Princess,” Adrien coaxed. “Please? There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

The pad of her thumb slowly ran over the top of his cheek bone over and over in an almost rhythmic motion.

“…Only if you promise that me knowing your identity isn’t going to get you killed,” she whispered.

“I promise everything is going to be fine, Marinette,” Adrien stressed.

“You can’t really promise that,” she sighed.

“In my family, men move mountains and try to conquer death for the women they love. I can and will make sure that everything is fine,” Adrien assured in a tone that brooked no argument. “Open your eyes,” he pleaded.

Marinette took a deep breath, and she did.

“Hi,” Adrien greeted tentatively.

“H-Hi,” Marinette managed to return as her eyes went impossibly wide.

Her hands dropped away from his face, down to her sides.

She stared at him numbly. “H-Hi, Adrien.” It felt like the air had been sucked from her lungs.

“Hi, Marinette,” he repeated patiently, curbing the urge to fidget under her gaze.

“You’re Chat Noir,” she whispered as the thought started to sink in.

“Is that…okay?” he wondered. He hadn’t known what exactly he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t shock like this. She had said she loved them both, so he hadn’t anticipated this being an issue unless she was angry at Adrien, but she had said that she wasn’t, so…

“I don’t know.” Marinette slowly shook her head. 

“Okay.” Adrien gulped. “That’s good.”

Panic slowly clawed its way up his chest.

“Sorry.” Marinette shut her eyes. “Give me a minute. I’m…trying to process…that every time it was Chat, it was Adrien, and every time it was Adrien, it was Chat. I’ve got four years of freaking out to catch up on because, as Chat knows, I’ve had the biggest crush on Adrien for forever now.”

“I’m sorry. Like I said before, I didn’t mean to… To be fair, I only found out on Sunday,” Adrien mumbled. “Because I’m an oblivious idiot.”

“If you’re an oblivious idiot, what does that make me?” Marinette laughed, sounding vaguely hysterical.

“I have a magical glamour protecting my identity. It’s not your fault.” He sighed forlornly. “…Do I need to go?”

Her eyes flew open, and she grabbed his hand as if to keep him from leaving. “What? Why?”

“I feel like this isn’t going well,” he muttered miserably. “and maybe I need to go and let you have some time to think about this on your own. I’m obviously making you uncomfortable. I’m sorry I kind of sprang this on you.”

“Minou, you’ve been trying to tell me for months! It’s—I just called you ‘Minou’.” Her entire face went white.

“You’ve always called me ‘Minou’.” He blinked, and a twinge of fear overtook him.

What if this changed everything? Marinette, for all her crush, had always been awkward and uncomfortable around Adrien. Was she going to start acting like that around Chat now?! Was she going to pull away from him? Would she no longer kiss him like she had kissed Chat because of Adrien? Would she not be able to share a bed with him now because of Adrien? Had they really had their last sleepover and their last kiss after all? Had Adrien ruined everything? Was he losing her anyway?

If he left now, would the magical glamour make her forget Chat Noir’s identity? Could he live with himself for doing that to her when she obviously had a problem with him being Adrien?

“Oh my gosh. I’ve been calling Adrien Agreste ‘Minou’ for literal years!” she gasped.

“I like it!” he assured, heartsick at the prospect of never hearing the nickname pass her lips again. It didn’t matter that it was kind of embarrassing that he’d started looking up when cat owners called for their own “Minou”s. Marinette’s nickname was precious to him.

“Princess, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”

She cut him off with deep inhale of horror. “—Adrien Agreste has been calling me ‘Princess’ for years now!”

He felt physically sick. Was she going to make him stop? Everything he had wanted to hold onto was trickling away, and it was all Adrien’s fault.

He let go of her hand and turned away. “This was a mistake.”

Her eyes went wide. “What?”

“I shouldn’t have told you. You didn’t want to know, and now…I’ve ruined everything between us,” he sighed heavily, wishing he could take it all back.

“No!” Marinette hurriedly assured. “You haven’t! I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Adrien. This is my fault! I’m sorry I’m freaking out. You know me; you know that this is what I do. I’m not doing it on purpose. I just…can’t…stop.”

The tears building in her eyes slowly began to fall. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been a brat to you all day, and now I go and freak out when you reveal your identity to me and make you think I don’t like you anymore because you’re Adrien when that’s not the case at all! I just…I can’t even talk to Adrien fifty percent of the time, but Chat…”

She gasped, covering her mouth with both hands as a whole new slew of realizations hit her. “You’ve seen me topless! And I’ve snuggled with you in boxers! Oh my gosh! ADRIEN AGRESTE has slept in my bed! And you’ve kissed me, and I’ve kissed you. And I was just kissing you! It was you! Every time it was Chat, it was you, and—”

She looked about ready to pass out. “…I’ve almost had sex with Adrien Agreste. I need to sit down.”

“You are sitting down,” he informed her helpfully, trying to sit there and take this to the best of his ability.

“I need to lie down,” she amended.

“I’ll get up,” he offered.

She grabbed his hand once more, gripping it tightly to keep him where he was. “I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I’m the one ruining everything.”

“No!” he quickly assured. “You’re not. You’re fine. I mean, you’re in shock, and you have a lot to process…and you do tend to freak out pretty easily. I should have foreseen something like this happening. It must be…kind of difficult to reconcile Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste. It’s not like they’re particularly similar.”

“You’d be surprised,” Marinette muttered. “I would have figured it out sooner if not for the magical glamour.”

They sat in silence for a moment.

“I wish I weren’t Adrien,” Adrien mumbled. “It would be easier for you if I were some other guy.”

She stared at him, taken aback. “There’s no one I’d rather you be…Minou.”

Her words made his entire face go vermilion as his chest filled with a peculiar warmth. He was struck again with the thought, “Man, I love this girl.”

“Oh,” he breathed. “Then…this is okay?” He hesitantly reached out to caress her cheek.

She leaned into his touch. “It will be. I’m still…a little skittish around Adrien, but once I get my head around the fact that he’s you, I’ll…” Her hand went to the back of his neck.

“I love you, Marinette,” he whispered, touching his nose to hers.

“I love you…” She paused, trying to decide on a name. “…both,” she finally settled upon, letting their lips touch.

It was a slower and more tentative kiss than their usual fair as Chat and Marinette. It was obvious to Adrien that things between them would be taking a step back until Marinette could satisfactorily reconcile Chat and Adrien. There would be no wild make out sessions ending in her bed between Adrien and Marinette. He wasn’t even sure he’d be allowed to sleep in her bed platonically now that he was Adrien. The physical intimacy that Chat and Marinette had worked up to would be starting over at the ground floor with Adrien.

That’s at least what Adrien had thought until Marinette gently pushed him back to lie down on the chaise and then straddled him without breaking the kiss.

“Marinette,” he gasped.

“Chat,” she whispered, and he froze.

It suddenly struck him that she had friend-zoned him as Adrien and picked Chat Noir. Did that mean she was only interested in dating Chat? Whom was she making out with right now?

Feeling his sudden tension, she opened her eyes and looked down at him. “…I mean…A-Adrien? …What do you want me to call you? I’m…confused.”

“Um…maybe…we need to talk some more before we start making out?” he suggested.

“Yeah,” she sighed, climbing off of him.

They both straightened their clothing and retook their seats on the chaise longue.

“Actually,” Marinette groaned. “I need to make things more complicated first.”

“Oh?” Adrien could feel his stomach twisting itself into knots. “It gets worse?”

She nodded guiltily. “My secret. It complicates things, and you’re probably going to be mad at me for keeping it, but I swear I did it because I’m afraid that your knowing could get you hurt or killed.”

“That…sounds like a pretty big secret.” Adrien forced himself to take a deep breath. “Is your family mafia on your dad’s mom’s side or something?”

She laughed, and her smile took away some of his nerves. “If only it were that simple.”

She gulped and turned to look at him, taking his hands in her own. “Remember the other night when I was trying to tell you? On Tuesday?”

He nodded.

She squeezed his hands. “…but then my kwami, Tikki, knocked the mirror over to stop me from telling you?”

Adrien blinked. “Your…what?”

She made herself hold his gaze. “I am…Ladybug.”

It felt like a great weight had been lifted off of her chest and the last nail had been hammered into her coffin at the same time.

He stared at her, his expression unreadable. “It’s…you?”

She nodded, trying to wait patiently while he took in the news. This was her payback for freaking out at his revelation.

“But…” He let go of one of her hands to poke at her left earring with a finger. “You love me.”

“I do love you,” she confirmed.

A frown of confusion twisted across his brow. “But you always turned me down.”

“Ladybug turned Chat Noir down because Marinette was in love with Adrien,” Marinette corrected.

“But Marinette was in love with Chat too,” Adrien argued.

“Chat never asked Marinette out,” she responded simply with a shrug.

His frown deepened. “I told you I loved you. I told you I loved both of you.”

“You did,” she replied sadly.

He moved past confusion to exasperation. “By the way, that really does it for me, Marinette, you loving me on both sides of the mask. Why does me loving both of you seem to upset you?”

“You loved her more.” Marinette shrugged.

“It was still you,” he pressed.

She shook her head. “Ladybug is not like Chat Noir. She is not her own distinct person that someone could love and start a life with. She’s not fake, per say, but she’s not real either. People fall in love with the idea of Ladybug, not the real Marinette. Ladybug is all the good things about me. I am Ladybug. I am resourceful and brave and thoughtful. I am the reason she exists. I am Ladybug, but Ladybug is not me.”

She met his gaze, her own pleading. “Does that make any kind of sense? Loving Ladybug is not the same as loving Marinette. Picking Ladybug is not the same as picking Marinette…and you always picked Ladybug. Even if you loved Marinette too, you always loved Ladybug more.”

“Oh,” he sighed, stroking her face. “Sorry. That…probably hurt.”

“Not as much as Ladybug hurt you,” she reminded. “Over and over and over.”

“Oh,” he gulped. “That was you.”

“That was me,” she whispered. “Do you hate me? I’ve been really cruel to you. I’m always unfair to you, aren’t I?”

She wasn’t expecting for him to pull her into a hug, but he did, crushing her against him.

“No wonder you always begged me to give up on Ladybug,” he muttered into her hair.

“It was selfish of me,” she confessed.

“It wasn’t,” he scoffed. “You we’re trying to get me to stop hurting the both of us. Marinette, I knew it hurt Ladybug when I told her how I felt. I knew it hurt Marinette. I was the selfish one. I went ahead and hurt all three of us anyway.”

“I never held it against you,” she sighed into his neck. “Can you forgive me?”

“I love you, and you love me; what is there to forgive?” he chuckled.

“I feel like there’s so much,” she muttered. “I should have told you. I should have explained everything sooner.”

“You were scared of getting me killed. You’re still scared,” he reasoned. “Plagg explained that Tikki does a rather thorough job of convincing her charges not to reveal their identities.”

“She was trying to protect me,” Marinette replied, feeling the need to defend her kwami.

“Well, now I’ll protect you,” Adrien promised.

Marinette pushed back. “Doesn’t this change how you feel about me? I feel like you should be mad. I feel like you should be freaking out. Why am I the only one freaking out?”

Adrien rolled his eyes fondly. “You freak out so much because you overthink things. It’s your job; you’re the planner. I only have to follow your lead and go with the flow. I’m used to stumbling around blind, doing what you tell me to, and trusting that it’ll all work out for the best.”

“Huh.” She pursed her lips. “I still feel like some freaking out or resentment is called for.”

He shook his head. “I hurt you. You hurt me. That’s all in the past. What good will it do either of us now when I picked Marinette and you picked Chat and we can be happy together?”

“How does Adrien feel about me picking Chat?” Marinette wondered, chewing on her bottom lip nervously.

“Adrien is ecstatic,” he confessed, barely keeping himself from bouncing in his seat. “You picked some damaged, needy, dorky guy whose real name you didn’t know over the perfect, handsome, rich supermodel who could have gotten you whatever job you wanted in the fashion industry. I will never have to doubt that you love me for me, mess that I am.”

“You sell yourself short,” Marinette snorted. “You’re the sweetest, most caring, romantic, dependable guy I know.” She pursed her lips and hesitated before asking again. “You’re sure Ladybug doesn’t change how you feel about me?”

He rolled his eyes and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “I picked Marinette, if you’ll remember. At this point, Ladybug’s identity is kind of irrelevant. I mean, I always thought you two were really similar anyway, so it’s not such a big deal to merge the two in my head…unlike Adrien and Chat Noir. I bet if I think about it more, I’ll come up with some ‘Oh my gosh that was Marinette’ or ‘Holy crap that was Ladybug’ moments, but…”

His smile turned sheepish as he tentatively traced a lace pattern across her stomach with his finger. “…I’m sitting here with the girl of my dreams twice over, and you’re wearing that dress…and I am in over my head in love with you. I’d much rather enjoy this moment than freak out about things that I have no control over.”

“How can you be so chill?” she giggled.

“Nino’s finally rubbing off on me.” He shrugged and leaned in to nuzzle her neck, her ear, her cheek. He placed a kiss on her nose before pulling back ever so slightly to meet her gaze.

“Marinette, I love you. Will you go out with me?”

“Yes,” she sighed happily, leaning in to kiss him.

They ended up lying down on the chaise again, his hands low on her hips, her hands tangled in his hair until it could have passed for Chat’s.

She was about to moan a name when a thought occurred to her and she sat up, kneeling with a leg on either side of Adrien’s hips. “Which one of you did I just agree to date? I mean…was that Adrien asking me out or Chat or…? Which one of you is my boyfriend?”

“Both of us,” he answered immediately. “If anyone asks, we have an arrangement.”

“Both sets of your fangirls are going to want to burn me alive,” she chuckled ironically, resigned to her fate. “Are you sure you’re okay with me dating the both of you? I kind of feel bad since Ladybug can’t reciprocate.”

Adrien shook his head. “Don’t. I understood when you were saying that Marinette was Ladybug, but Ladybug wasn’t Marinette. It makes sense now what Ladybug said earlier about her not being able to be in a relationship with anyone. She’s just a small piece of you, so it would be impossible to date just her. In a way, I’m dating the real Ladybug…. But I can understand you wanting to keep things professional while you’re wearing the mask. I can respect that.”

Marinette bit her lip as she considered, finally deciding, “You know…occasionally, you may be able to convince me to put on the suit in the privacy of my bedroom…or your bedroom. My suit doesn’t have a zipper, so making out in costume would help me keep my clothes on.”

He shook his head. “You could just detransform and take your clothes off. I doubt the suit would be any real deterrent.”

She shrugged. “So…I guess I should call you Adrien when you’re Adrien and Chat when you’re Chat because that would make sense. Would Adrien be opposed if I called him ‘Minou’?”

“Adrien would be a happy puddle of goo if you called him ‘Minou’,” Adrien sighed. “I guess you wouldn’t be able to do that in public, though. People might suspect.”

She nodded, continuing to chew on her lip in thought. “I’ll have to use something else for Adrien in public.”

“Like what?” he prompted, eager to see what she would come up with.

She smiled deviously down at him. “You’ll find out tomorrow at school when I call you in front of Nino and Alya and make your face go beet red.”

A trill of anticipation raced down his spine. “I’ll be looking forward to that. By the way, when are we telling them?”

“Tomorrow at school when I call you by your new nickname and your entire face goes red. They’ll figure it out when I walk up and kiss you,” she snickered.

“I’m going to die a very happy man in the middle of the locker room tomorrow,” he chuckled. “…Can I still call you ‘Princess’, even if Chat does too?”

She paused to mull it over. “I think so. I think it’s less incriminating than me calling the both of you ‘Minou’.”

Adrien reached up to slowly trail a finger down her thigh. “I’m guessing that you don’t want me calling you Buginette or Milady or anything, do you?”

She shook her head. “Save that for Ladybug.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed, looking up at her in wonder. He smiled goofily as he took in the force of nature that was his girlfriend. “Wow,” he sighed.

“What?” she chuckled.

“I’m the luckiest man ever. I am so in love with you.” He sighed again, delirious in his happiness.

“I love you too, Adrien…as a friend.” She smiled impishly.

He groaned. “I am never going to live this down, am I?”

She slapped his arm. “That is for every time you said the word ‘friend’ today.” She smacked his other arm too for good measure.

“I thought you said you weren’t mad at Adrien for being uncertain of his feelings?” Adrien whined.

She grinned mischievously. “Changed my mind.”

“Yeah,” Adrien sighed, covering his face with a hand as his other slowly slid down the length of Marinette’s thigh. “I was such a mess today. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, leaning over to kiss his jaw. “No apologies. We’ve both screwed up…and I like that you’re sometimes a mess. It makes me feel better about always being a mess.”

He took her face in his hands and raised his head for a quick smooch. “You’re at the point where it’s no longer considered ‘a mess’; it’s ‘art’.”

She laughed, her nose scrunching up cutely.

He kissed it.

Her laugh turned a bit hysterical. “Oh my gosh! I’m kissing Adrien Agreste!”

He couldn’t help but laugh too. “You know what? I’m going to enjoy this while it lasts. Right now, I’m an exciting novelty. Pretty soon it’s going to be ‘Oh, yeah. It’s you’.”

She rolled her eyes, giving his hair a tussle. “Oh, Minou.”

“Oh, Marinette,” he echoed, gazing up at her in adoration.

She stilled, her eyes slowly studying his face in meticulous detail. “We…still have a lot to talk about. This is suddenly feeling…a lot more real. I don’t think…” She bit her lip, struggling to piece together her thoughts but refusing to break eye contact. “I don’t think I should be sleeping with you right off the bat. I’m sorry. Maybe that doesn’t make sense because with Chat I am ready, but…” She frowned, continuing to worry at her lip.

He reached up and gently pulled her lip away from her teeth. “Adrien feels like an entirely different person?” he guessed.

She made a tiny, embarrassed noise of confirmation. “I’m sorry. I know it’s ridiculous, but—”

He flattened his palm over her mouth. “—No apologies, remember?” He took his hand away. “It’s okay. I understand. We should probably start over. None of this has been quite…conventional. We should date. Shyly hold hands…have our first kiss…”

“We’ve already had three. How many first kisses do we get?” Marinette snickered.

“Three?” He frowned, counting them in his head. “Two weeks ago Chat and Marinette. Today Adrien and Marinette kissed. That’s two.”

“Valentine’s Day four years ago. Ladybug kissed Chat Noir,” Marinette helpfully supplied.

“Chat Noir doesn’t remember that,” Adrien pouted. “Regardless of how many times he’s watched the clips. Akuma attack kisses don’t count. Everybody knows that. I call redo on the Lady Noir first kiss. And the Adrinette first kiss too. You weren’t actually kissing me today at school. That was revenge for the ‘I love you…as a friend’ fiasco. I want you to kiss me for real.”

“Adrien, what does all the kissing we’ve been doing just now count as?” she chuckled.

“If you need to attribute them somewhere, give them to Chat. We’re in time out right now, so it doesn’t count as Marinette and Adrien kissing. I’ve messed everything else up; I at least want to do our first kiss right,” he insisted.

A fond smile slowly unfolded on her lips. “Chat and Marinette’s first kiss was pretty great. I wouldn’t say you’ve messed everything up. Besides, it’s not like you’ve been doing it all by yourself. I’ve been helping the whole time, screwing up right beside you every step of the way.”

His pout dissolved into a fit of giggles. “We were made for each other, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely.” She leaned in to rub her nose against his.

“Marinette?”

“Hm?” The earnest look in his eyes momentarily gave her pause.

“May I take you on a date?”

“Yes,” she whispered, a tremor of joy in her voice. “Where are we going?”

“Out to eat first. You haven’t had dinner yet, right?” he verified.

She shook her head. “Where?”

“Where do you want to go? Au Pied de Cochon? Brasserie Lipp? The restaurant at the Grande Mosquée de Paris? Fouquet’s?” he quizzed, pushing himself up on the chaise.

Marinette rolled her eyes, climbing off of him to sit next to him. “Framboise over by the Trocadero.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You want to go get…” Suddenly, he remembered. “That’s that little crêpe shop on the corner where we went a couple years ago. I took you as Chat…our first experimental outing.”

She nodded, smiling at the memory.

“Do you actually want crêpes, or are you just being sentimental?” He smirked, giving her cheek a teasing poke.

“A little bit of both. We can go someplace else if you want, though,” she offered.

“Nah.” He waved away her compromise. “Crêpes sound perfect.”

“What are we doing after dinner?” Marinette prompted.

“It’s not too cold out, so maybe we can walk by the Seine for a bit,” he proposed. “Since it’s a school night, we don’t have too much time. After that, we’ll come back here and maybe recommence your dancing lessons, maybe watch a movie before we have to call it a night.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “If you end up teaching me how to dance again, you’re not allowed to kiss me. Adrien will have to be a little bit more creative. He can’t just copy Chat.”

“I would never,” he gasped, pretending to be offended. “The official first kiss will be tonight up on your balcony before I take my leave.”

Her head tipped to the side. “You’re not sleeping here?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think Adrien should be staying the night for another month at least.”

“Chat could,” Marinette offered.

Adrien mentally debated before shaking his head once more. “Not tonight. I think we’ll both need some alone time after our date to process things.”

Slowly she began to nod. “Yeah. You’re probably right. Well. Shall we straighten ourselves up so that we don’t look like we’ve been rolling around, making out on a chaise longue so we can head out on our official first date?”

“Sounds like a plan,” he concurred. “You’ve probably got my hair looking like Chat’s. I’m going to have to wet it down.”

“Your hair is sexy,” she remarked without really thinking it through. Her skin broke out in a scarlet blush when she realized what she had said. “I can’t believe I just told Adrien Agreste that his hair is sexy.”

He had to laugh at this. “Wait until it dawns on her that she’s dating Adrien Agreste. She’s going to have a fit,” he half-muttered under his breath.

She gave his arm a half-hearted slap. “Hush, Minou.”

He shrugged, straightening his suit jacket and readjusting the collar of his button-down shirt. “I think you’re adorable, Princess.”

“…You’re not wearing a tie,” she finally observed, taking in the rest of his outfit.

This earned her an attractive blush from her boyfriend. “Um…about that.” He tugged at his shirt collar as if gently trying to convince it not to choke him. “Tell me if it’s tacky, asking for a present like this, but…I was hoping…maybe you’d give me my Valentine’s Day present now?” He hesitantly pointed to the gift, wrapped and left sitting on her desk, undelivered.

She smiled sheepishly as she got up and went to fetch the package. She sat back down and handed it to him. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Adrien.”

With a blush of delight, he carefully tore into the present.

“You’re the best,” he whispered as she tied it for him. “What did I do to deserve you?”

Finishing with the tie, she slipped her arms around his neck. “You picked me,” she explained, giving his nose a patented Marinette nip-kiss. “I’m trying to figure out what I did to deserve you.”

“Bad karma?” he joked.

She reached up to flick a bell that wasn’t there and then settled for flicking him in the nose. Giving his nose a repentant kiss, she grinned. “Very, very good karma.”

“So long as you think so,” he sighed, pressing his lips to hers.

Chapter Text

“Mec, you don’t look like you slept a wink.” Nino raised an eyebrow in concern.

Adrien shrugged. “Morning, Nino. Morning, Alya.” He made it halfway through “Alya” before he had to stop to yawn. “Yeah. I didn’t.”

“Marinette?” Alya guessed with a waggle of her eyebrows.

“Marinette,” Adrien confirmed with a dreamy sigh that indicated that it had been a pleasant kind of sleepless night.

Nino snickered softly at his friend’s expense.

“Morning, Alya! Morning, Nino!” Marinette called as she entered the locker room.

Adrien went tense in eager anticipation as their eyes met. He smiled sappily.

She sent him a loving look as she confidently approached. “Good Morning, Prince Charming.”

He nearly died at the sultry way she said it.

“Good Morning, Princess,” he practically purred, pulling her into his arms and into a heated kiss as soon as she was close enough.

Their only regret was that the kiss made it impossible to see Nino and Alya’s reactions.

“What the hell?” Alya exclaimed. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng! You have some explaining to do!”

“Congrats, Dude,” Nino chuckled, clapping Adrien on the arm and mussing his hair.

“We’re dating,” Marinette sighed happily, lazily looping her arms around her boyfriend’s neck.

“We’re also dating Chat Noir, but he, unfortunately, couldn’t join us this morning,” Adrien added, making all surrounding pairs of eyes go wide.

Marinette was a little surprised to find that she was sharing Chat Noir…and technically Adrien too.

Nino’s mouth fell open. “Wait. You…you” He poked Adrien in the forehead. “are dating Chat Noir?”

“Yep.” Adrien grinned, obviously pleased with himself. “I might have a bit of a thing for superheroes in leather, and he happens to have a soft spot for pretty boy models, so it all worked out.”

“So we’re a threesome,” Marinette corroborated. “We talked it out and decided last night.”

“Marinette, you don’t just get to drop a bombshell like that!” Alya gave her best friend a playful elbow. “Where was my warning? Why did I receive no heads up? We are talking about this, young lady.”

“Yes, Mom,” Marinette giggled. “After school.” She turned to Adrien, eyes glimmering with mischief. “Care to escort me to my locker, My Prince?”

“I would like nothing better, My Princess.” Adrien obligingly offered her his arm.

Nino watched them go with a barely concealed pout.

“What?” Alya gave her boyfriend a gentle nudge.

He pursed his lips. “I want to have a threesome with Chat Noir.”

Alya burst out laughing good-naturedly. “Sorry, Babe. I don’t think that’s happening. If it makes you feel any worse, I want to have a threesome with Ladybug.”

Nino made a face. Sure, he’d had a crush on Marinette several years prior, but she’d since become like a sister to him, so the thought felt wrong.

“I don’t think her boyfriends will want to share her,” he snorted.

Alya frowned. “‘Boyfriends’? Since when does Ladybug have boyfriends?”

Nino winced. “Fans! I meant fans. Fanboys. Sorry.”

Alya shook her head, stealing his cap and slipping it on. “Let’s get to class, Babe.”

The

        End

Chapter Text

Truthfully, it all started several years prior, but they hadn’t noticed at the time. They hadn’t noticed for four years, so, if pressed to answer the question “When did it all start?” they wouldn’t have had a clue. However, there was one point in time that they could both put their fingers on as the start of something important. That point in time was a Sunday afternoon at the very end of January.

It hadn’t seemed special at first. In fact, in Chat’s opinion, it had been a pretty mediocre Sunday afternoon until it suddenly became lifechanging.

He had dropped by Marinette’s and found her binge-watching Kara Toiton’s season of Strictly Come Dancing. He’d gotten lunch and plenty of head rubs out of the deal, so he wasn’t complaining, even if he’d rather have been playing Mario Party or Overwatch or even a good, old-fashioned game of War.

Two hours into their marathon, Marinette paused the show and looked down at him where he was stretched out on the couch, head in her lap, playing minesweeper on his phone.

She sighed. “I want her dress.”

“So make the dress.” He shrugged and then added as an afterthought, “…I’d love to see you in it.”

“Flirt,” she snorted, giving his nose a poke. She took a deep breath and sighed again. “I wish I could dance. I bet my crush can dance.”

Suddenly a horrifying thought occurred to her: “What if my crush asks me out dancing and I can’t dance and I make a total fool of myself and he laughs and decides he hates me and marries Chloé or Lila or Kagami instead because I bet they can dance?! Chat, my life is over! What am I going to do?!”

He bit his lip and forced himself not to laugh. He had long ago learned that every Marinette freak-out, while on the surface ridiculous and vaguely humorous, was serious business. If he laughed now and Luka really did ask Marinette dancing and end up marrying Chloé or Lila or Kagami because she couldn’t…

Chat set down his phone and sat up, offering her his hand. “Want to learn how to waltz?”

“Sorry!” Marinette gasped as she stepped on Chat’s foot for the third time. “I’m sorry. I told you I wasn’t any good at this. We should stop.”

Chat rolled his eyes lightheartedly. “Princess. It’s fine. The boots are steel-toe, and you’re not that heavy. You’ll get better with practice.”

“I doubt it,” Marinette scoffed, trying to pull away.

He tugged her back into position, giving her ear a playful nip. “Where’s your patented Marinette Dupain-Cheng optimism today?”

“I left it in my other pair of pants,” she grumbled, settling into the dance hold.

“Come on, Marinette. How are you going to dance with your crush at your wedding if you don’t practice?” he clucked his tongue and challenged, knowing exactly what would motivate her. “Better you step on my feet than his, right?”

That got a fire burning in her eyes. “Let’s go again,” she suggested, only it came out sounding like more of an order.

Trying to curb a smirk, he gently began to guide her through the steps. “One, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three, four, five, six. There you go.”

“Keep counting,” she chastised when he stopped.

He chuckled mischievously, beginning to add turns. “You don’t need it.”

“Yes, I do,” she grumbled down at her feet.

“Marinette, my eyes are up here,” he teased.

“Aren’t I supposed to be looking over your shoulder?” she riposted but raised her gaze regardless.

“Ah, yes.” He rolled his eyes as he guided her around the coffee table. “Because the waltz dates back to a simpler time when the very thought of men and women in close proximity looking at one another was considered scandalous. I mean, who knows what could have happened. People might have fallen in love if they were allowed to look at each other while dancing!”

“God forbid.” Marinette made the mistake of meeting his gaze and realizing how close her face was to his. She tripped.

He caught her. “Careful, Princess,” he chuckled, helping her to stabilize, patient as always.

She blushed sheepishly, unable to determine whether the heat was coming from embarrassment at almost face-planting or because she’d suddenly remembered how handsome and talented and kind her partner was.

“Really, really handsome.”

She bit her lip. “Sorry, Chat. We really should stop before I hurt you.”

“Do you really want to stop?” He tipped his head to the right, gazing at her curiously.

His eyes were so green. Not for the first time, she wondered what they looked like without the mask on.

“No,” she finally decided, replacing her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s…just one more time. I am getting better, aren’t I?”

“Of course you are,” he encouraged warmly, turning his solar flare smile on her as he placed his hand on her back. “You would have been fine if you hadn’t been dazzled by my beauty. Maybe the old-timers knew what they were doing after all, not looking at each other while dancing.”

Part of her wanted to smack him. Another, greater, part wanted to go hide under her chaise because he’d hit the nail on the head, whether he knew it or not. She settled for a snorted rebuke. “Someone has an inflated ego.”

“You’re not that bad, Marinette.” He smirked. “I love you anyway.”

She gave his shoulder a half-hearted headbutt. “Shut up and dance with me already.”

“As the princess wishes,” he purred, beginning to move.

Marinette threw every ounce of mental energy she had into concentrating on her steps. It was half an attempt to forget how attractive her friend was and half determination to not fail again.

After she’d managed fairly well for a solid minute with Chat changing direction and adding in turns, he remarked, “It looks like you’ve got the basics down pretty well. Would you like to try it to music? It might be a little harder since contemporary music you might end up dancing to doesn’t keep the strict one-two-three-four-five-six beat.”

She frowned as he brought her to a stop in the kitchen. “Do you think I could do it?”

“Marinette, I have faith in your ability to do anything you set your mind to, given enough practice.” He winked, and her heart fluttered.

“Well…let’s give it a try, then. Do you want me to get my phone, or do you have something in mind that would work or…?”

“How about I sing something?” he suggested, mentally searching for a song that wouldn’t be too challenging to follow along to.

“I get a serenade with my dance lesson?” she chuckled. “If you sing as well as you dance, I figure I’m in good hands.”

He gave her hand a squeeze and grinned. “I’m so good you’ll be hard pressed not to swoon.”

“Oh yeah?” she challenged, starting to relax.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “…How about Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years? That has a pretty good, steady beat to it. You ready?”

“I’ll follow your lead,” she assured with a wink.

With a nod, he began to lead her around the kitchen and throughout the living room, expertly guiding her around the terrain while he sang softly, in a breathy, airy way that would have sounded out of breath if not for the obvious control he had over his voice.

She got caught up in the words on his lips and forgot to count, instead moving naturally to the beat inherent to the song.

His voice was gentle and vulnerable. It sounded so real when he sang, “How can I love when I’m afraid to fall?”, as if he were really asking her.

She turned her head to look at his face, to try to read the emotion there, and she found him returning her gaze, looking almost surprised as he sang, “But watching you stand alone, all of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow.”

He gulped self-consciously under the intensity of her clear blue eyes lost in his own and began to sing the chorus.

Marinette’s heart seized and melted as he sang, “I have loved you”. Her mind went blank, her feet moving on their own in sync with his, four years of fighting beside him as Ladybug kicking in and keeping her in step with her partner even as her brain shut off.

The words in English all blurred together for Marinette, but she never lost track of the rising emotion in his voice. It tempted her to give in, tell him the truth about Ladybug, heedless of the consequences. She wanted him to…

She blinked as they stopped.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir was very aware of what he was saying and how real it felt.

Marinette’s eyes on him were like a gentle squeeze on his lungs, a tentative tug on his heartstrings. His friend had been having this kind of effect on him for a while now, and it suddenly dawned on him how stupid it was of him to be waltzing with her while singing her a devastatingly emotional love song.

He was going to do something stupid like confess how beautiful and perfect and wonderful he thought she was. He was going to show her his hand in this momentary fit of madness, and she was going to kick him out and never want to talk to him again. She was in love with someone else, for crying out loud. She had been for years. They talked about it all. The. Time.

And yet, Chat was about to confess how much she meant to him. Chat was about to take advantage of her shock at his revelation and steal a quick kiss before she could kick him out and never talk to him again. He was terrified, but…

“I will be brave,” he sang, feeling the words reverberate in his chest. “I will not let anything take away what’s standing in front of me.”

His feet slowed as the reality of the words sank in.

“Every breath…” he whispered and trailed off, coming to a stop, staring longingly into the eyes he’d been seeing in his dreams lately.

“Minou?” Marinette breathed, sounding just as out of it as he felt.

“Sorry,” he apologized preemptively. “I’m…in love with you.”

Her eyes widened, and he leaned in. Taking the time to press his lips firmly to hers. If he was doing this, he was going to do it properly. No diving in for a fast, barely-there smooch like a sneak thief. No half devouring her lips in a greedy, open-mouthed mess either.

He had said the ‘L’ word, and he’d meant it. He owed her a kiss with substance. If this was to be their kiss, the one kiss on record that he ever got to share with her, it was going to be concrete, dignified, and unambiguous.

He pressed his lips resolutely to hers, committing to his folly, and then slowly pulled back to observe the wreckage and decimation of their friendship that his impulsiveness had wrought.

There was shock in her eyes, as he had expected, but it was accompanied by an elation and desire that took him by surprise.

And then she attacked him.

“Chat,” she gasped, pulling out of the dance hold to throw her arms around him. Her lips crushed against his: frantic, uninhibited, vindicated. She kissed him with the desperation of a half-drowned man breaking the surface and gulping for air.

He only hesitated for an instant before following her down the rabbit hole and abandoning himself in the kiss.

Without breaking their lip lock, they stumbled to the couch, Marinette falling backwards and taking him with her, her legs wrapping around his waist.

It was a blur of hands and lips and moans. Hair was disheveled; necks were ravaged. Clothes (miraculously) stayed on, but hands went everywhere. Friction and heat consumed them.

Eventually, they fizzled out, their pace slowing into a series of lingering, sweet kisses.

With a sigh of satisfied exhaustion, Chat pulled back to rest his head on her chest, still heaving, just like his own.

Marinette lazily stroked his hair and back as they lay there limp, recovering.

It took several minutes, but she was the first to speak. “So…that happened. Didn’t it? Did I just imagine that? Because I imagine that sometimes, and I’m going to be really frustrated if that didn’t actually happen.”

He lifted his head slightly to read the look on her face.

She was blushing and staring at him with an entreating look in her eyes.

“You imagine making out with me, Princess?” he whispered in awe.

It was hard to believe that the second most spectacular woman on the face of the earth would spare him a thought. He was floored.

The grenadine hue of her cheeks intensified. “Yes?” she asked, as if afraid it was the wrong answer.

“I do too,” he assured to assuage her uncertainty. “I mean, making out with you, not making out with myself. Though, there was this one time when… Sorry. Ignore me. I’m definitely not a narcissist.”

“You have good reason to be a narcissist,” she purred shyly, pushing a bang out of his eyes.

His heart swelled. “I love you,” he sighed, leaning in to kiss her again.

This time it was slower, more leisurely, and they both came out of it humming contentedly.

“This is real,” Marinette giggled as Chat nuzzled her neck. Her fingers wound through his hair, and she savored the feelings washing over her. Chief among them were joy and giddiness at the fact that he had accepted Marinette. He had picked her.

As she slowly came down from the high, it dawned on her: “I feel like we should talk about this.”

Chat went still as he realized that he had knocked over a box of vipers. Telling her he loved her and kissing her were all well and good, but talking about what that meant?

“Are we dating now?” Marinette wondered. “I mean…you told me you loved me, and then I practically sucked your face off. I think that’s pretty far into ‘dating’ territory.”

She paused as it occurred to her how tense the boy on top of her had gone. She raised her head to inspect him. “Why do you look terrified? I know you don’t have commitment issues.”

He gulped and confessed, “I…may not have thought this through.”

She blinked at him expectantly, making it clear that he was to continue talking.

He bit his lip. “I thought you would kick me out and not want to be friends anymore when I kissed you. I wasn’t…I didn’t anticipate you kissing me back.”

“Minou,” she cooed reassuringly, stroking and playing with his hair. “It’s okay. We’ll…figure this out together as a couple. Part of being with someone is that you never have to go through anything alone.”

The warm, affectionate way she was looking at him made his heart do flips while simultaneously making his blood run cold. Internally, he was panicking.

Out loud, he cursed softly, earning an eyebrow raise from Marinette.

“Okay,” he decided, beginning to extricate himself from the tangle of their limbs. “Step one, I need to get off you.”

That accomplished, he got to his feet and began to pace as she watched him from the couch. “Step two,” he announced. “I need to apologize to you…. Profusely. I didn’t…I mean, I did, but I didn’t…” He forced himself to stop and look at her, meeting the bewilderment on her face head on.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a small, mortified voice. “I meant it when I told you I loved you. I meant the kiss, and I don’t want to take back any of it.”

“But?” she prompted, beginning to feel cold.

“…I never intended to ask you out.” He made himself watch her face as it crumbled—his punishment for screwing everything up.

“…O-Oh,” she whispered, doing her best to keep the pain from showing. It was only visible for an instant before she schooled her expression back into careful neutrality.

It was a trick he had seen Ladybug do many times.

“You…love me, but you’re not interested in dating me?” she summarized. “Did I…get that right?”

He stepped towards her but then hesitated, thinking better of it. She probably didn’t want him around her. “Not exactly,” he muttered, frustrated with himself and his tangled ball of feelings. “I would date you except…it wouldn’t be fair when there’s already someone else I’ve given my heart to. Ladybug is—”

“—Ladybug?” Marinette choked, venom coming out with the name.

He could feel his cat ears drooping.

“She doesn’t even—” Marinette clamped a hand over her mouth before she could say something hurtful and impossible to unsay.

Only the hum of the appliances in the kitchen and the buzz of the TV cut through the painful silence in the apartment.

Marinette nodded slowly, lowering her hand. “Okay. That’s…fine.”

It really wasn’t. Neither one of them thought so.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated worthlessly.

“I’m not,” she replied defiantly but without heat. “I don’t regret kissing you. I’d do it again. Besides, it’s good to know where we stand and not have to wonder. If you want to hold out hope for Ladybug, that’s fine. We’ve had that argument enough that you know how I feel. We don’t need to go over it all again; you can let me know if you change your mind.”

He nodded docilely, feeling miserable.

Silence fell between them once more like a guillotine blade.

He shuffled from one foot to the other, squirming at the tension he’d made between them.

“I should probably go now,” he offered, kicking himself out so that she didn’t have to.

She scoffed at the idea. “Chat Noir, you do not get to run away from this…me…us. Come over here and lie down. We’re going to watch three more episodes of Strictly Come Dancing before I make us dinner.”

Sheepishly, he obeyed, resuming his place on the couch with his head in her lap.

Dutifully, her hand began to rub, making him want to cry.

“I’m sorry I ruined everything,” he whispered into her thigh.

“Minou,” she coaxed. “You didn’t ruin anything. Nothing is broken that can’t be fixed. All we have to do is keep acting like normal, and everything will be fine.”

He wasn’t so sure.

“Our friendship is stronger than this,” she insisted, giving his nose a little bop. “We can weather this together.”

She smiled lovingly down at him, and he could feel a bit of the weight come off his chest.

Tentatively, he returned her grin.

Three episodes later found them snuggling almost like usual. They made dinner together and ate with minimal awkwardness, and then it was time for him to head home.

She caught him by the wrist as he turned to go. “Are we…okay, Minou?”

He thought about it before pulling her into a crushing hug. “If we’re not, we will be.”

She nodded, squeezing him in return. “Yeah. Because I love you, Chat. You’re too precious for me to lose over something like this.”

He pulled back ever so slightly to stare at her in awe.

“Minou?” She tipped her head to the side as she blinked curiously.

Slowly, cautiously, as if he were afraid of destroying something, he leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek. He pulled away again at a glacial pace to observe her reaction.

Marinette chuckled, returning the careful peck.

He smiled at her like she had given him the world, and they both knew that everything was going to be okay.