A/N: This isn't chapter 23 for Destiny is a Funny Thing, and therefore NOT what I'm supposed to be working on. Blame Fieryartemis. She posted a writing prompt that inspired this, and it wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. In all seriousness, go check out her stuff. I personally enjoyed Holding out for a Hero and it's sequel story. I hope you guys enjoy this!
Adrien had had a bad day.
No, correction.
He'd had a bad month.
Plagg's lack of protest to a late night outing as Chat Noir, that has nothing to do with patrolling, is proof of that.
The reason for this terrible month?
Ladybug. And Marinette. Who, it turns out, are the same person.
While before Adrien had been curious about Ladybug's true identity, now he wishes he could go back in time and stop the reveal from ever happening. If he'd known this would be the result, Adrien would have tried his damnedest to stop it.
The reveal had been both accidental and unavoidable. Before he could even register what was happening and try to turn away, Ladybug's disguise melted away to reveal Marinette. He'd been happy to know it was Marinette behind the mask, more than happy actually. His partner and best friend were one in the same. It couldn't get any better, that's what Adrien thought.
But Marinette didn't feel the same.
To say she freaked would be putting it mildly.
"Marinette?" Adrien's mouth drops open. It's been so obvious all this time, how did he not see it? "I can't believe I've been so stupid."
There's a final beep from Adrien's ring and his transformation drops as well. Adrien isn't filled with anxiety like all the other close calls, because now he knows it's Marinette behind the mask. They're friends, he has no reason to worry.
"A-Adrien? You're...y-you're Chat Noir?"
"Um, yeah. Kind of funny how we've been dancing around each other's secrets, huh?"
"Oh my god. You….you're...and he…" Marinette's eyes widen as she takes short, shaky breaths. "I-I-I can't d-do this!"
Spinning on her heels, she takes off at full speed leaving Adrien standing there with a look of bewilderment on his face.
"What was that about?"
"You probably freaked her out." Plagg replies, swallowing his cheese whole. "I don't think she's good with surprises. You should have given her some kind of warning."
They're friends, so why is it so bad the Chat Noir is also Adrien? He couldn't figure it out. He tried talking to Marinette the next day, but she made it more than clear that she didn't want him near her. Alya grilled him, asking what he did to Marinette. Unsatisfied with his answer of, 'I don't know', she'd started ignoring him. Even Nino had grown distant. Not that Adrien blamed him, Nino has been friend's with Marinette for years. Even though he's trying not to take sides, Nino is in a tough spot with this situation. He'd actually tried playing the middle man for a while, but Adrien told him to give it up. No amount of talking to her was going to fix this mess he'd found himself in.
Adrien had happily put up with all of this because he thought that with enough space and time things would go back to normal. That Marinette would adjust to her partner also being her classmate.
"She's completely avoiding me." Adrien vents to Plagg, collapsing into his computer chair. "I don't get it."
"You just gotta give her time kid. Everyone comes to terms with change in their own time." Plagg advises. "It may have been easy for you, but the same doesn't hold for her."
"You think if I give her space things will go back to normal?"
"Sure. She'll straighten out her thoughts, you'll talk, and it'll be like nothing happened."
"How can you know that?"
"I've lived for thousands of years, kid. I've learned a few things in my time, believe it or not. Besides…" Plagg smirks, "Unlike you I'm also very observant. So be a good boy and do as I say."
But even weeks later, things hadn't progressed at all.
He lost his partner and one of his best friends in one go.
To make matters worse, he's desperately afraid that this will all end in rejection.
He'd said from the very beginning that no matter who was under the mask, he would love her. Knowing that it's Marinette only cemented that fact in his heart. The more he thought about everything, the more he realized that he loves everything about her.
He's hopelessly in love with her but after the recent events, even if she talked to him tomorrow, Adrien isn't sure he could bring himself to confess.
Unable to sit in his room and wallow in his misery a moment longer, Adrien transformed and jumped out of his window into the warm night air, hoping a run would clear his mind.
Unfortunately, rain clouds had rolled in earlier in the evening and chose that precise time to let go of their water.
He was drenched in minutes and almost slips off one of the roofs. At Plagg's urging, he lands on the first roof that has some kind of covering, and ducks under the tarp. It's not until he's shaken off most of the water on him, that he realizes exactly which roof he'd taken shelter on by catching sight of a small red and black polka dot figure flying beneath the glass trap door. He tries to gesture to her to not tell Marinette, but Tikki flies away before he can.
"Great."
'What are you going to do?' Plagg actually sounds concerned.
"Leave obviously." He turns to do so when he hears Marinette's voice behind him.
"What are you doing out in this weather Chat Noir?"
He easily catches the towel she throws at him and says, "I needed to burn some energy. It wasn't raining when I left."
"If you checked the weather this could have been avoided."
"Well it's not like I planned on coming here." Chat says this with venom in his voice.
He's angry, he realizes. Anger and hurt are swirling inside him, making his blood run hot. Angry that despite all the talk about being friends, partners, and being there for each other, Marinette ran off the moment she found out his identity. Hurt that all his attempts to repair the damage he had somehow caused, had all be pushed away.
"Well dry off and be on your way then." Marinette huffs, turning back to the trapdoor.
"Hey wait-"
"Tikki! What do you think you're doing?" Marinette's sudden shout cuts through the air. "Unlock this right now."
"No." Tikki phases through the glass so she can be heard. "I'm not letting you back in until the two of you talk. This is getting ridiculous and I refuse to encourage it any longer."
"Chat can just bring me down stairs, you know." Marinette argues.
"Somehow I think Chat Noir isn't in the mood to do you any favors." Tikki smirks, folding her arms. "You haven't been playing nice with the Kitty. They know how to hold grudges."
Ignoring Marinette's continued protests, Tikki phases through the glass and disappears from sight.
"So I guess we're talking."
"No, we're not." Marinette walks over to the wall and leans against it, putting as much room between them as possible while remaining underneath the tarp. "She'll feel guilty eventually and let me back in. You can go, you don't want to be here anyways."
There's a flash of green and Plagg is floating between them.
"Plagg, what-" Adrien starts, momentarily distracted from his anger.
"I'm with Tikki on this one. This has gotten out of hand, I'm not helping it continue."
"I expected this from Tikki, but not him. Now we're both stuck here." Marinette crosses her arms and scowls at the trap door.
"You don't get to be mad." Adrien snaps, throwing the towel to the ground. "You're the one who ran away. You're the one who's been avoiding me. And you're the one who made it clear you wanted space. I've been doing nothing but respect that for weeks. I don't want to be here because you don't want me around. I'm trying to be respectful of your wishes."
Marinette opens her mouth to protest, but Adrien isn't done yet.
"I honestly thought that if I just gave you enough space things would go back to normal. I thought we were friends, that we were partners."
"W-we are but…"
"But what?" Without realizing it, he's crossed the small space and slammed his hand against the wall next to her head. "Why, why did you run away when you found out who I am? Why have you been avoiding me? Why did finding out who I am ruin everything?"
Marinette's eyes water as her gaze drops to the ground. "I'm sorry."
The apology is so soft he can barely hear it over the rain.
"I've missed you Marinette. I see you every day, but it's like there's a thousand miles between us. I wanted to come here every single night since we revealed ourselves," Adrien admits, a hint of desperation in his voice. "but you made it clear you didn't want that. I keep trying to find reason why things turned out like this, but all I've come up with is that you're disappointed it was me who turned out to be Chat Noir."
"Adrien, no. It's not like that at all! It's….it's me." Marinette's eye meet his for a moment before dropping back to her feet. "I-I'm nothing like Ladybug, and I knew you'd be disappointed. I'm just an average girl with nothing special about her."
"That's not true. A mask doesn't suddenly change you Marinette. You're Ladybug with or without the mask."
"You're one to talk. You're a completely different person as Chat Noir."
"That's because I'm expected to play a certain part. But the most important parts of me are the same."
"Knowing that Chat Noir and Adrien makes things...complicated."
"Why? We're friends. Best friends, even."
Marinette fidgets, shifting from foot to foot, wringing her hands, and determinedly staring at her feet.
"Because I love you."
It sounds more like an apology than a confession, and for the life of him Adrien can't understand why.
"You…..love me?" His mouth hangs open in a very unattractive way.
She loves him. She actually loves him. Marinette loves Adrien.
"I know you're completely out of my league and of course don't feel the same way."
"Marinette…"
"You flirted with Ladybug, but I know you weren't serious. It was just-"
"Marinette, stop. Just...pause for a minute and listen to me." Adrien uses his free hand to lift her chin, in doing so he realizes that Marinette is crying. "I was serious, I am serious. I've said from the very beginning that I would love the girl behind the mask, no matter who she is. I wasn't lying."
"B-but I'm n-not Ladybug. I told you I'm just plain Marinette."
"You're not just anything. Whether you realize it or not, you're an amazing person without the mask. Everything I admired about Ladybug, I also admired in Marinette. Finding out that you're the girl behind Ladybug has only made me love you more."
"I-I-"
His lips are on hers before he's even made the decision to kiss her.
He shouldn't be kissing her, it's too soon. They still have things they need to figure out. This could send everything spiraling again, but Adrien can't bring himself to care. Holding her in his arms, her arms wrapping around his neck as she kisses him back with equal fever, it's perfect.
Here in this moment, his life is perfect.
"T-that's a nice way of t-telling me to s-shut up." Marinette stammers when they break apart.
Adrien chuckles, pressing his forehead against hers. "I'm glad it worked."
"I'm sorry that I've been avoiding you."
The apology isn't necessary. Where there once was pain and anger, there's only warmth now.
"It's okay. Now that I know why...it's okay. But Marinette, please stop thinking so little of yourself. You can be every bit as brave and heroic without the mask if you let yourself."
"R-right. Well I should p-probably get back inside before Tikki falls asleep and leaves me trapped up here." Marinette pulls away suddenly, moving to the trap door. "The light is off and I don't see her...I think she might have fallen asleep."
"Luckily, Plagg will still be awake in there somewhere. No way is he falling asleep where there isn't a supply of cheese." Adrien gently knocks on the glass. "Plagg, I know you're awake in there."
The Kwami flies up and phases through the glass, "Are you two behaving?" He glances at Marinette's red face and smirks. "Nevermind, her face says enough."
"Just get this unlocked." Adrien snaps, his own cheeks heating up.
A/N: This was originally going to be a one-shot, but I'm having issues with transitioning between scenes so it's become a two-shot. The second part will get posted at some point. I have no idea when. I hope you enjoyed it. Review and let me know what you thought!
~Life is no Fairytale