Welcome, welcome. I was watching this series and got frustrated with the obliviousness of the two of these characters so I figured I could have some fun with this.
I'm doing this as a One-Shot that might expand into something more if there are those out there that like it and my writing of it enough to warrant an extended storyline. I do love a good romance.
Review, Follow, and feed me pretzels. XD
Infuriating, insufferable, impulsive… all of those usually described Cat Noir on a normal day. Right now, he was beyond all of those and more… combined.
Who knew that going up against an akumatized victim with the need to spew as many bad puns as Ladybug's flirtatious and snarky partner.
The latest akumatized victim was apparently a ventriloquist who had a failed performance and was shamed into becoming Punocchio, the villain who uses his collection of ventriloquist dummies as soldiers to do his bidding. The more people heard his puns, the more powerful he and his dummies grew.
Unfortunately for Ladybug…. The only real defense right now was allowing Cat Noir to dish his own puns right back. It somehow diffused Punocchio's power a bit if the attention was taken off of him. At least that was the idea until Ladybug could figure out where the akuma was. Thinking was pretty difficult while listening to the pun battle.
"Are you sure you're not one of the dummies?" mouthed Cat, "because I thought most ventriloquists just nodded away while the dummies did all the talking."
"Oh, that was just Clawful," sighed Punocchio.
"I think you mean Clawesome!" rebuked Cat, dodging a strike from an oversized dummy.
"Your wooden dummies here might need work out a few knots," Cat chided, "they seem a bit stiff." His smile radiated a little too confident for Ladybug's sake as she kept an eye out for the akuma while fighting off a couple dummies herself.
"Well it's not like you can talk, my dummies are just a little 'board' with you." Ladybug couldn't help but snicker a bit at the burn Cat received. He whirled and gave her a 'really Bugaboo' glare. She shrugged. Rolling his eyes, Cat resumed his strange form of attack.
"Well if you mess with me too much, you might end up with a Cat-astrophe!" Cat's eyebrows wiggled oddly upon saying that.
"Don't make me crate the kitty," Punocchio growled, "I wouldn't want you to get Clawstrophobic."
A dummy nearly made a connecting strike with Cat before he extended his staff to vault away, then leapt back to deal out a short flurry of attacks that disconnected a couple of said dummy's appendages.
"Looks like that cost him an arm and a leg," Cat said with no small degree of puntacular snark.
The dummy proceeded to use the one working arm to grab its own leg and bat Cat a short distance away.
"And looks like my dummy got a leg up on you," Punocchio dished right back, cackling oddly.
"Really?" Cat asked in rhetoric. He didn't get much of a chance to recover when a teddy bear like dummy waddled over to him to try crushing him in a vicious embrace.
"Looks like you need a great big bear hug."
"No thanks, I can bearly stand it!" choked Cat. Ladybug finally laughed at one of his puns.
"Aw come on, my lady," Cat groaned, squeezing his way out of the dummy's grasp, "I wasn't even attempting humor that time."
"Guess you're better in the moment when you don't try," Ladybug lightly consoled the sulking kitty.
"You've gotten be kitten me?!" he wailed. Ladybug groaned, ruing the return of his puns.
"I think you're gonna give me a headache if I don't find that akuma soon," Ladybug mildly sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She renewed her search, while still fighting, and finally saw something plausible. A purple bow tie that looked much like many akumatized items.
Not wasting anytime, Ladybug tossed her yo-yo into the air shouting, "Lucky Charm!"
And down dropped an air horn.
"What in the world could this be for?" she asked herself mainly.
She and Cat had been able to 'dismantle' most of the dummies that Punocchio used to defend himself but the last ones were still pretty difficult to deal with.
In her vision, Punocchio lit up and so did Cat. It wasn't uncommon to have so little help from other objects, but this time it made things simpler.
When the akumatized was about to let loose another string of puns, she blew the air horn, interrupting his words and drowning his voice out in a much-blessed change of sound.
Cat frowned at his missed chance for more banter but saw a chance to take advantage of when each interrupted shout of Punocchio seemed to make his dummies shrink and dwindle in power. Striking each dummy that was left and leaving them in pieces, he closed in and swiped the bowtie that Ladybug pointed out, throwing it to her.
Ladybug ripped the object in two and cleansed the butterfly that floated out.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" she shouted throwing the horn into the sky and watching as a luckily low level of damage and destruction was cleaned up.
After making sure the victim of Hawkmoth was safe, the duo left for a nearby rooftop to take a second before having to part.
"I dare say my lady," Cat started, "I cat believe you let me do all that punny business."
She rolled her eyes and groaned.
"Never again Cat," she said. "It was almost too much."
"Well I can be a pawful," he continued. "Some would say I'm just like paper though."
"I'll regret this… buy why?"
"Well," Cat's grin grew, "we're both terrible (tearable)."
Ladybug put a hand to her head saying, "Yep, you're giving me a headache."
"Aww… not feline well?" her partner asked. "Need a purramedic?"
That did it. That was it. She couldn't take it any longer. Ladybug giggled slightly and walked away waving at Cat noir….
Before tripping over her own feet and nearly falling off the roof they stood on.
Cat grabbed her and pulled her back, miscalculating and getting tangled up with her and ending up falling down, though at least on the roof itself.
Both of them opened their eyes to see that Ladybug was laying on her back with Cat above her in a mildly protective matter.
He wiggled his eyebrows and opened his maw for another joke that Ladybug dreaded to hear.
"Looks like you're under Agreste," he stated.
Time stopped right then and there for her.
What did she hear? There was no way. Did he make the joke she thinks he did? Staring with wide eyes up at Cat Noir, who seemed oddly unaware of the faux paw (hehe… puns) that he just made.
That oblivious moment passed as she noticed his smile froze in place but those cat-like pupils slowly shrank in mortified realization at what he just uttered.
"A… Adrien?" a voice softer than she meant to use came out. His frozen fear state expired as he leapt back at the mention of that name and he mumbled a goodbye before dashing away across the rooftops.
Ladybug was going to give chase until she noticed the beeping of her earrings, counting down from two minutes. Choosing to defer this problem until later, she rushed on her own back to her house.
In her rushed stupor, she nearly made a few head-on collisions with the brick face of a few buildings. Not the kind of face time she wanted. She internally groaned at the plethora of puns rolling around in her head right now. Cat… no Adrien… Cat? was starting to rub off on her.
With seconds to spare, Ladybug dropped onto her roof, changing back into Marinette. Upon dropping down into her room, she crashed onto her bed and let out a muffled yell into the bed itself.
"Well that was unexpected," came a tiny voice behind Marinette.
"That would be a massive understatement," Marinette murmured almost incoherently.
"So, what are you going to do about it?" Tikki inquired hopefully.
The bluenette tensed up, unsure how to approach the whole new world laid out before her. The pieces of everything since meeting Adrien and Cat Noir… in reverse order. She had a… 'record' of his schedule and usual habits, and somehow missed all the times he disappeared, though she would have done so at the same time most often.
Too many moments to count crossed her mind now. Most notable of which, was Cat Noir's constant flirtatious manner. She turned her crush away so often, in favor of… well… her crush.
"I… I don't know, Tikki," Marinette sighed. "What can I do?"
"Visit him?" Tikki said with inflection.
Marinette perked up at that. She figured that Tikki would be against any sort of thing like that.
"As Ladybug or Marinette?" she asked nervously.
"Why not both? I know I said no one should know… but he's your crush, friend, and partner all wrapped up in one person. I can be lenient in this case." Tikki giggled slightly and hugged Marinette as best a small creature like herself could.
"As much as I don't know if I can really do this right now, I also know if I wait… I'll never do it," Marinette conceded, more to herself thank Tikki. "No time like the present, right?" Her little kwami nodded vigorously.
Five minutes and nearly as many cookies for Tikki later, Marinette suited up and slung her way through Paris, knowing exactly where she was going.
0000000
Cat Noir landed softly in the open window of his bedroom, the Parisian sky darkening as the sun set in the distance.
He was tempted to clear his head a bit, running around Paris for a while especially since he didn't use his Cataclysm and had time to spare.
"Claws out," he said dejectedly. His transformation dropped, with Plagg landing on his nearby couch, looking rather pleased.
"What has you so smiley?" Adrien asked.
"She knows you," was all he said, getting up and floating over to a waiting plate with cheese on it.
Adrien sighed heavily and fell back on the couch.
"I know," he replied.
"Then what's your problem?" the kwami said with his mouth full of cheese.
"At least swallow before trying to speak," the blonde chastised Plagg. He heard a loud gulp followed by a noxious sounding burp.
"Isn't it good she knows you? Makes it easier to find each other during a crisis."
"My problem is…," Adrien started, "if she knows me as Adrien… it might be as the model, well-mannered, quiet and kind teen I have to be. Being Cat Noir gives me the freedom to be who I've always wanted. I guess I was so focused on knowing her behind the mask that I didn't think about the reverse that much… till now."
Plagg hummed ambiguously and nommed on his camembert slowly but with great pleasure. It was almost cute if Adrien didn't already know how much of a little pest he was.
Laying his head back, the blonde tried to calm the thoughts swirling in his head. Why did he have to make so many jokes? And when did he even come up with that one?
Seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes felt like hours as he watched the light disappear in an achingly slow manner from the sky.
Adrien's eyes started to close as the thoughts in his head began to tire the mind and he found it hard to stay wakeful.
That state of slipping into unconsciousness was both thankfully and frustratingly interrupted by a thump and resulting tap on his window.
His eyes flew open and Adrien saw Ladybug hanging off his open window. She could have entered seeing as it wasn't closed… or locked, but apparently, she was trying to be polite.
"L-Ladybug?!" he stammered slightly. "To what do I owe this visit?" He tried to remain calm and collected, hoping against everything that this wasn't in response to his joke earlier. No way it wasn't but he couldn't help but hope.
"You don't need to pretend, Cat Noir," she stated bluntly. "I know it's you."
He couldn't tell whether he should have been mortified once more or be relieved. His heart couldn't take it and along with that, his brain felt dangerously close to short circuiting.
"Right…" he mumbled. His eyes flicked up towards her bluebell eyes and back down to his shoes. Adrien's breathing became shallow as he feared what could come next. "I'm sorry."
Ladybug tilted her head curiously and said gently, "Why are you sorry?"
"I know you wanted to keep our identities secret. I tried to respect that. I really did."
"It's ok," Ladybug consoled, "I know you didn't mean to. It's not like you planned for that."
Adrien laughed a bit. He almost wished he had planned around something like that.
"I didn't want to disappoint you," Adrien murmured.
"Why would that matter? It's not like…"
"I love you," Adrien blurted.
"Yeah, that," Ladybug finished. She had a small smirk, thankful he helped her finish that thought.
Once she looked over to the blonde though, she saw something that threatened to melt her heart into a gooey mess.
The boy before her had an expression she had never seen before. His eyes were seemingly unable to hold fast to her own for long before finding something, anything else to be interested in. A permeating blush made his face nearly glow red as he tried to work his mouth after letting those three little words loose.
His hands clasped into fists and worked themselves open and closed almost frantically as all either of them could hear in the silence was his labored breathing.
"You love me?" Ladybug finally squeaked out, finding that her personality as Marinette was starting to surface in the situation. The bubbling happiness and out of control thoughts pertaining to the being that was Adrien.
"Yes, My Lady," Adrien reaffirmed, finally mustering enough of his shattered courage to lock his eyes with hers. Those green eyes filled with a desperate and near hopeless energy. She could see that he wasn't joking. This wasn't a prank or a flirtatious trick meant to poke fun at her. He has a torrential flame behind those eyes that very well could turn his soul to ash if she rebuffed him or didn't handle this carefully.
"You love Ladybug…" she whispered. Her thoughts turned to something more crestfallen. She was in love with him, but he was in love with Ladybug. The superhero with a mask. The protector of Paris. He didn't love the girl behind the mask.
Adrien's breath caught as he could feel the change in the atmosphere when Ladybug mentioned it that way. He wasn't completely sure but he thought he could see what might be bothering her.
"I love you," He repeated. "And I want to love the girl under that mask too."
Adrien's hand tried to clasp Ladybug's, her hand drawing back slightly as she was unsure how to go forward with her original plan. She was in no way expecting a confession, and such a confession teetering on the edge of possibly breaking his heart and hers too.
"But you don't know who I am under this mask," she pursued, trying to tread carefully.
Adrien seemed to be getting less bold and the courage he gathered earlier was flaring out. His hands were shaking.
While not Marinette right now, she tried to let a little of her out to utter the next words.
"I have been in love with you as Adrien," she breathed.
Silence ensued between the two as Adrien stiffened and let his hand drift downward.
"You fell in love with an image," he stated simply, looking about crestfallen as she felt a minute ago. What had she said wrong? She was trying to let him know that she fell in love with the real him.
"The Adrien that everyone sees is a hollow shell that my father judges and treats like a trophy. I sometimes feel like 'Adrien' is more of a mask than the one I wear as Cat Noir."
"But I've seen how kind and caring you can be," pressured Ladybug. "You defend your friends and always try to keep peoples spirits up. Even if some of that is part of an image… you can't fake that much kindness."
"You know me?" Adrien asked in slight shock. He knew he was discovered by name… but wasn't prepared to hear such endearing words of someone who made it sound as if they were close to him.
"I'm… closer than you think," Ladybug said carefully, her eyes averting their gaze.
Adrien was closer to her now, putting a hand to her cheek and running his palm over her skin, his fingers finding their way to the edge of her midnight blue hair.
"You really think that about me? This me?" he asked. "The Adrien who has to play the part so everyone will like him?"
"Yes," Ladybug almost whispered. "And I could… love your other side too…"
Adrien smiled weakly as he said, "Cat Noir is who I feel reflects more of what I wish I could be. I'm free when I'm him. I can let my worries fade away and embrace the time I have fighting alongside the most beautiful and endearing woman I've ever met. Even if your other side is something you dislike… all those qualities that made me fall in love with you would never be dimmed."
"I…" Ladybug tried to speak, her breathing hitched as she ran those words over in her head. Adrien… loved her. Maybe not in the way she would find most ideal… but he wasn't going to turn her away just because she wasn't someone more than Marinette.
"Spots off," she said, locking her gaze with Adrien's as his eyes widened. Despite the phrase being one he was unfamiliar with, he knew what she was doing. The magical suit dissipated slowly as her form was revealed for him to see.
"Marinette," he breathed in a near quiet whisper, giving her a light hearted and slightly choked laugh.
He leaned in closer and stared deeply into her eyes, his own darting around to study her, making Marinette blush deeply as being left so exposed now. Now she understood a bit of what Adrien was talking about with being Cat Noir. Her earlier determination withered much like her superhero outfit had disappeared.
"Freckles…," Adrien said through his smile. "I always wondered if you had them."
"W-what?" Marinette stuttered.
"They look adorable on you. And your eyes are the most beautiful I've ever seen."
Marinette tucked her chin to her chest and felt like shrinking away to nothing. Adrien was examining her in such a curious fashion and he was complementing her… It went against whatever reason she had made herself believe about how it might not happen. The blush in her cheeks felt like it could start a fire.
When her eyes darted up to see Adrien's once again for the briefest of moments, she saw a hint of Cat Noir peeking out from behind them.
"My lady," Adrien said once more, leaning in, he tilted her head up, with some resistance from Marinette. The blonde was quietly tenacious and guided her burning face towards his. Adrien glanced down at her strawberry pink lips and wondered if they tasted as sweet as they looked. As he drew closer and helped her close the gap, her hands now pressed lightly to his chest, her lips trembled and eyes glazed over.
Was this real? Can I do it? Can I let myself fall into all of this?
Marinette's questions were answered when Adrien dared to close the gap and connected their lips in a gentle press. Tilting his head to the side, he pulled back with a slight smeck and a satisfying gasp from Marinette. She didn't get much of a chance to react as the boy slid his hand behind her head, raking his fingers through her hair. Marinette was pulled into another kiss, a little less gentle than the last, but no less considerate.
She could feel the warmth of his lips, his hand, his breath as it flowed over her lips when they separated. Marinette could also feel the restraint he tried to show her. The gentlemanly kindness he was displaying for her touched her heart, but she remembered what he said about being Cat Noir. He was free, unrestrained, and she could understand that now that she thought back on herself in that respect. Being Ladybug was an obligation and a duty, but she didn't take the time to think about certain aspects of herself that came out when in the mask.
That determination she wanted to harness to get closer to Adrien, the stubborn nature she wished had come about in her civilian life more often, and the calm and intelligent manner that she approached people and situations as Ladybug.
Her own hands raised up to Adrien's neck and slid slowly up his jawline to the sides of his head. Pulling him in, she deepened the kiss, sucking at and using her lips to pull at his. She pulled away for a second.
"Adrien," she gasped, "you don't have to treat me like glass. Kiss me how you like. Let the cat out of the bag."
The blonde teen couldn't help but chuckle and give her a very Cat-like grin.
"My Marinette is making cat puns now?" Adrien inquired sarcastically.
"Who said I was yours?" the blue eyed bluenette snarked back at him.
Adrien growled playfully and pulled Marinette into a more passionate kiss, his lips parting repeatedly as both of them blushed from the cascade of lip smacking sounds they heard from their own kissing.
In a true manner befitting her clumsiness, Marinette tried to step closer to Adrien and tripped, pushing both of them onto the couch. The blonde let out a light chuckle as he looked at Marinette, who was now laying on top of him and nearly crimson. She tried to bolt upright and leap off of him, until he leaned up to silence her stammered apologies with a kiss.
Letting herself drown in the moment, her trembling hands found their way around Adrien's neck as she draped her arms over him. Everything was still so unreal but she wouldn't let those thoughts keep her from enjoying this most favorable of dream states.
Parting their lips to catch their breath, Marinette couldn't look him in the eye and rested her head to the side of his, each of them breathing heavily and equally focused on hearing the ragged draws of air in each other's ears.
"Marinette," Adrien gasped in her ear, making her blush spread to those as well. He hadn't called her Ladybug, or My Lady… he called her by her name. The prospect made her hug him tighter and cradle his head, tilting it so his ear was closer to her mouth.
She brushed back a lock of blonde hair and whispered to him, "Adrien."
His spine tingled and legs felt like jelly. If he had been standing, this would be the part where he might have collapsed. He tried to pull this beautiful girl back to stare into her eyes, only to have her grip him tighter.
"Please," she pleaded, "I'm too embarrassed to look you in the eye right now." Her voice sounded so small and filled with a sense of longing that he had only dreamed to hear from the girl he loved. It was just another part of the girl he admired that he could instantly love. This klutzy, cute, and shy side of her coupled with those short bursts of impulsive determination made her all the more endearing.
Adrien reached up to pet her head, stroking her midnight blue hair. He could feel her tremble slightly and sink into his arms further. Venturing further, he stroked a couple fingers down the small of her back and felt her arc slightly against him, letting out a ragged gasp in his ear.
The moment was interrupted when a small burp echoed in the large room.
"That was rude, Plagg," a small voice said. "You ruined their moment!"
"It's not like they didn't already have enough time to themselves," Plagg defended. "They were gonna remember us at some point, Tikki. Besides… I was hungry."
"You're always hungry, Plagg," Adrien said, rolling his eyes.
He looked back at Marinette, who had pulled back in surprise and was giving him a nervous grin with madly blushing cheeks that only seemed to make the freckles he found adorable stand out more.
"So," he started, "before anything else happens, would you,… Marinette AND Ladybug, like to be my girlfriend?"
Even with all the embarrassing things they had been doing, Marinette could barely find the mental fortitude to respond using words, stammering heavily before simply nodding vigorously at him, leaning in to give Adrien an affirmative peck on the lips.
I do hope you liked this, maybe even loved it. I know it was fun for me to write, mainly because i got to use a large part of my own arsenal of bad puns. I love puns. the worse they are, the more i love using them.
If i were to extend this story, i would likely come up with a full plot and change the story title. (either change the title or set up a new story with a continuation from this title.)