Chapter One
A/N: Hey guys! Just as the summary says, this fic can act as a direct sequel to The Wyvern OR a standalone if you haven't read that one yet. Although the first scene of this story is a tweaked version of the last scene from The Wyvern. I apologize if it sounds a little wonky for newcomers.
Enjoy!
This can't be real. It has to be a dream.
Adrien. Beautiful, sweet, perfect Adrien..is her partner for a school project. Hers for an entire week! He's giving her a ride home in the back of one of his father's lavish cars this very moment, has offered to come to her house to work on their speeches together...!
And yet...
As they lower their fists, having bumped them together in a gesture all too familiar, all Marinette can see is the silver ring on his finger. She's never noticed it before. And his gaze is locked on the earrings adorning her ears.
Marinette swallows at the lump in her throat. For the slightest of seconds, their eyes meet. Green and blue.
And then they both whip their heads in opposite directions, the rest of the car ride passing in uncomfortable, heavy silence except for the thudding of their hearts in their ears.
Tap...tap...tap...tap...
Something else about Adrien that Marinette has never noticed is that he drums his fingers when he feels anxious. Which, of course, makes it a hundred times harder not to stare at the ring decorating his slender ring finger. She forces herself to look everywhere but his hand...and his eyes.
She's always known they're green. And that he's blonde. And tall and thin. And...chivalrous, and brave and...his voice...
Stop it, she scolds herself. You're just overthinking it! I mean, it's not like you haven't entertained the idea before that he could be... I mean...Alya showed you an edit of Adrien in a black cat suit and you still... It just doesn't add up!
And that's when she realizes Adrien is talking to her.
"...ot a lot of websites, actually. So, what do you think?" He turns to look at her, wearing his usual, disarming smile. Maybe he's not as nervous as she thought.
"Uhhh..." Crap. She has no idea what he was saying. "Umm...I-Im sorry, Adrien. I wasn't...really...listening. I-I suck." She groans and bows her head in defeat. She's got to get with it. So what if Adrien is Cat Noir?! He's not! But so what if he is! He's still Adrien! And they still have a project to do!
But despite her thoughts clearly being elsewhere, Adrien simply smiles and pats her shoulder. "That's alright. We can take a break if you'd like."
Marinette sighs and sits back in her chair at the computer. They shouldn't waste time, they've only got a few days to put the project together. But...
Her eyes trail down once more to his hand, where the sunlight from the window is glinting brightly off his ring. The part of her mind that tends to fantasize muses that it almost appears to be glowing.
There's no point. She isn't going to be able to focus.
"Maybe that's a good idea," she reluctantly tells him. "Just a short one."
Nodding, Adrien reclines in his chair as well and stretches his arms above his head. "Well at least we have a topic," he offers. "And that's more than we had an hour ago." He sits forward again and turns his revolving chair to face her. There's that ornery glint in his eyes again... She swallows at how familiar it looks, even though she's never seen it on his face. "I don't know about you, but a round of a Ultimate Mecha Strike III always helps me unwind. And I'll have you know I've been practicing, I might actually stand a chance against you now."
Adrien winks at her and Marinette can't help the confident grin that spreads over her face. Leave it to Adrien to find a way to make her feel better. "Is that a challenge?"
He chuckles. "It most definitely is."
An hour and twenty minutes later, the partners retire from their procrastination with guilty smiles on their faces. Adrien wasn't kidding when he said he'd been practicing. Sure, Marinette still kicked his butt ninety percent of the time. But there were a few rounds that he actually managed to pull off a stunning combo attack and beat her!
By the end of it, Marinette has entirely forgotten about her suspicions and, true to his word, they both feel more relaxed and their minds are clearer. Time to get back to work.
As Adrien closes the game and brings up their blank presentation file (thank goodness she remembered to take down all those photos of him and change her computer wallpaper), Marinette runs downstairs to grab something from the bakery for them to eat while they work.
"How's it going up there?" Her mother asks innocently, although there's a sly gleam in her eyes that Marinette has come to recognize a mile away. It's the "there's a really cute boy nearby and he might be into you" look. Of course Marinette blushes deeply and makes a point not to look at her mom as she grabs a plate and stacks some croissants and cookies on it.
"It's going well," she tells her casually. "Just getting a snack."
"Good, good..." Sabine folds her hands behind her back and walks away, but Marinette hears her giggle and only then does she notice her father peeking his head around the corner at them.
Little snoops. Marinette shakes her head with a grin and pads up the steps, bumping the trapdoor open with her shoulder as she balances the plate in both hands. She gets to the top of the steps...and pauses.
Adrien hasn't noticed her yet. His back is to her, but she can see in the slope of his shoulders that he's bent over. Looking at something in his lap.
"Don't be ridiculous, Plagg," he whispers to seemingly no one. "There's no way she's-"
"Adrien?" Marinette interrupts, certain she doesn't want to hear what he's going to say next. Her heart is thumping again but she plasters on an terrible innocent smile and lets the trapdoor fall shut behind her. "Ready to get back to work?"
He stares at her for a second, stunned. And then he, too, fakes a smile and nods. "Uh, yeah, sure. Sorry, I was uh-I was...on the phone-but I'm done now. Yeah, we can work..."
She sets the tray down between them and sits in her chair. Unable to look him in the eyes, she stares down at her hands, twiddling her thumbs and pretends not to notice that his phone is still clearly tucked into his pocket...
"Ummm..." Marinette lifts her eyes, searching for something to break the awkward silence.
"Uh...so..."
"So...the...the project."
"Yeah. Um...I found some websites that might...help..."
"Great...! Uh," Come on! Please say something that proves you're not Cat Noir!
"Um-I never noticed you wore earrings before."
Dammit, Adrien! "Umm...y-yeah...I never...used to but...yeah...I-I never noticed you wore a ring...not that it matters but...yeahh..."
"Really? I never used to either...I've...had it...for about a year..."
"Haha really? What a...coincidence that...we...both..."
"Yeah..." Adrien looks at the floor to avoid to her gaze. Her eyes that suddenly look so familiar. He doesn't know why his heart is beating so quickly, or why he can't stop tapping his fingers. He's brought it up countless times to Ladybug that he wants to reveal their identities to each other. But he supposes now that the opportunity is right in front him-literally-he's...nervous.
After all, what if he's wrong? What if Marinette isn't Ladybug? If he tells her who he is and she isn't Ladybug then they would both be in danger. It's not that he doesn't trust Marinette to keep his secret. He does! She's his princess, she's helped him many times before as Cat Noir and as Adrien. He knows she's a good person. Trustworthy. He just...he just doesn't know...
But...then again...
What if she is Ladybug?
How much easier would it be to protect Paris if they knew each other's identities? They could cover for each other, they could train together, they wouldn't have to rush away from each other when their transformations were running out...
Plus, if Marinette is Ladybug, that's just one more reason for him to be in love with superhero partner. Marinette is a kind, compassionate, brave, smart girl. She's fun to be around. She's cute...
He blushes. He's never thought of Marinette in that way but...yeah. Okay. Yeah. He's gonna do it. He's gonna tell her.
Adrien looks up and finds that Marinette is still awkwardly sitting with her shoulders slouched, twiddling her thumbs and generally looking like she wants to sink through the floor.
"Marinette," he says as calmly as he can manage. She looks up, eyes wide and waiting. He gulps. "I-"
"AAAAAH!"
Both teens jump in their steats at the ragged scream coming from the street. Marinette sprints to the window and throws it open, craning almost her entire upper body to see what's happening.
Meanwhile, Adrien slowly walks backwards toward the trapdoor. He needs to get outside. He needs to find a place to transform.
Marinette grimaces when she can't see where the scream came from. But if the frenzied squeel of car tires and the handful of panicked Parisians running below says anything...she'd say someone is in need of a hero or two.
Turning on her heel, with a flimsy excuse to get out of the room on her tongue, Marinette blinks when she finds Adrien gone. Where did he...? "Ah!" She gasps as her ceiling shakes a little...as if someone has landed on the roof. She returns to the window to see Cat Noir bounding over the rooftops in the direction of the chaos.
"No time to think," she mutters. "Tikki, spots on!"
It's an akuma. That much becomes obvious as soon as Ladybug lands on the top of the boutique beside her partner.
A villanous-looking man dressed entirely in black and white hovers in the air above the street, surrounded by terrified citizens frozen in mid-step and glowing red. Every inch of their visible skin is crawling with words. Entire sentences, repeated over and over and over again.
"I'm sick and no one knows."
"I cheated last night."
"I hit her."
Ladybug covers her mouth with her hand. So that's what the akuma does...
"M'Lady, something tells me we need to be extra careful around this one," Cat Noir says, drawing his staff. "Getting hit by this one would be a real clawtastrophe."
Ladybug scowls at him. "Cat Noir, this is serious."
"I know, I know, I just couldn't resist. No need for a catittude."
"Stop."
Cat Noir snickers and rises out of his crouch. With a running start, he vaults off the roof and drives a kick into the unsuspecting akuma's chest, throwing him out of the air.
"Now that's what I'm pawlking about!" Ladybug giggles and lassoes her yoyo around the akuma's ankles just as he tries to get up. She pulls tight on the slack and the akuma growls angrilly.
"Ahh, Ladybug and Cat Noir. I was wondering when you'd arrive."
Cat Noir leans his elbow on his staff and smirks. "We like to be fashionably late," he says with a wink. Ladybug lands beside him and rolls to her feet. She gives her yoyo string another tug and the akuma is pulled flat onto his back.
Although, it doesn't look like he's fighting it.
"Where do you think his akuma is hiding?" Cat Noir asks quietly.
"Not sure." Ladybug scans the villain's body. A stark black and white suit, shiny black dress shoes, a top hat, white gloves...nothing that really stands out as a source of power.
"What about that?" Cat Noir points at something pinned to the villain's sleeve. A shiny, glass cuff link that gleams brightly even under the cloudy sky above. Ladybug smiles at him.
"Good eye, Cat Noir. That's gotta be it."
With a twirl of his staff, Cat plants the weapon into the ground between the villain's body and his outstretched arm. Swooping in close, he reaches for the akuma. However, just as he's about to grab it, there's a low, growling rumble in the earth and their opponent's gloves begin to glow red.
"Cat Noir! Get out of there!" Ladybug shouts, but it seems he's already ahead of her. Her partner instantly flips backwards, narrowly avoiding contact with the akuma's gloved hand. Marinette gasps as her yoyo is pulled hard and she stumbles, the wire going slack for just a moment.
And that's all it takes for him to shoot high into the air, cackling darkly.
"I am Candor! A seeker of truth!" A white finger is jabbed at the duo. Candor raises his voice, as if preaching to his captive audience of frozen Parisians. "These two 'heroes' have been decieving us long enough! They hide their identities, they lie to us everyday and yet we continue to trust in them! We I say no longer." A cruel smile curls across his face. "I say it's time we found out who you really are, Ladybug and Cat Noir."
The heroes tense, thunder rippling through the sky.
"Right NOW!"