It was a particularly dreary night when the Akuma decided to attack. Marinette was hoping that Hawkmoth would continue his streak of tranquility for a little longer, things had been quiet in Paris for about a week now. Marinette sighed, she was in the middle of completing her final project for fashion class, a dress made to be worn at the upcoming winter gala. Her fiery focus was broken when her phone began to ring persistently.
"Where are you?!" A frantic voice called on the other line, she'd turned the video function off to ensure the caller could not see her face. She rolled her eyes, Chat Noir always made a big deal of her not accompanying him on missions. Even though they both knew that he could handle himself in dangerous situations.
She smirked to herself, resting her chin in her palm and leaning on her desk. Her eyes settled on one of the multiple photographs she'd salvaged of her school crush, Adrien.
"Hah?" She grinned, "Are you having difficulties, Chat? How unlike you."
She could hear his characteristic chuckle through pants over the phone, it was likely he was currently chasing after an Akuma.
"As if!" He protested coyly, "I simply wanted to see your face on this lovely evening, my lady."
Marinette snorted upon glancing out her window, the clouds were ominous and drooping lowly in the sky. It was going to rain. Marinette gave a small push of a sigh.
"Fine, I'm coming!" She promptly snapped the phone shut, and called to her Kwami, "Tikki, transform me!"
She brushed her hair back to allow the small, insect-like being to fly into her earrings. The familiar tightness of the dotted red uniform spread up her body, a spandex type of material that was surprisingly strong despite it's looks. She closed her eyes as the mask grew over them, and swiftly leapt out the window after Chat.
"It's been a while, my lady." Chat grinned when she arrived. He was crouching on the rooftop, and she slowed her pace to avoid being seen by the enemy.
Chat pointed to the Akuma in question when she'd lowered herself to his level. A man clad in a ridiculous costume was parading around the streets, calling out for the two heroes.
Chat Noir glanced to Marinette, "It seems he's a fan."
Marinette chuckled at his feeble attempt to be humorous before leaping off the side of the building in a spiral. Chat rose to his feet, watching her land gracefully with a hand resting on his hip. Somehow, Ladybug always managed to leave him behind.
The battle ended not even an hour after it had begun, revealing the Akuma to be a professor from a local university. It was over soon after Marinette called for her lucky charm, as usual.
"Well, I'll see you then!" Marinette turned to leave the scene, but was jerked back from her wrist. She turned to see Chat gazing at her with an almost pleading expression, which was very uncharacteristic of his usual self.
"Wh-What?" Marinette asked dumbly, suddenly feeling rather nervous at the sudden touch.
"Ladybug, I..." His intense green eyes flicked to the side, and he shook his head, "Can you tell me something?"
Marinette quirked an eyebrow, "That would depend on what the 'something' is." Her lips curved slightly, admiring how confident she sounded.
"Ladybug," His eyes locked to her own, "Who are you?"
Despite this being about the seventh time being asked, Marinette was slightly taken aback. His tone was so sincere, so soft compared to his former annoying nagging. He sounded so desperate to know her identity. Her insides began to shake, was it nervousness? Why was this time so different from the others? Her lips parted in response, and a part of her was about to leak her most important secret; had it not been for the beeping in her ear. She blinked, being brought back to reality. She allowed a clever smirk to play across her lips.
"I guess that was the wrong 'something'." She whispered, inches away from his face.
Chat Noir's eyes grew wide, and a noticeable blush stained his cheeks. He released her wrist, flustered. Marinette took this opportunity to fling her hook onto a nearby windowsill, and gave him a small, genuine smile, allowing her civilian counterpart to show through.
"See you, Chat."
It was only four days before the winter gala was being held in the school's auditorium, and it was the day to hand in her fashion project. Marinette had stayed up for a day and a half in order to finish, and it showed in the dark circles beneath her eyes. She handed the royal blue dress to her teacher in an opaque bag, the last thing she needed was for Chloe to comment on her finished product. The teacher took it from her swiftly, and she drowsily sauntered back to her seat, passing Adrien on her way.
Adrien's head lifted from his desk, and he regarded his classmate as she hung over herself while she walked. He knew of her incredible talent with design, and felt pity for her sleep-deprived state. She must have been very busy. His eyes glanced over to the teacher, craning his neck for a glimpse at her final project. His efforts ended in disappointment, however, when he caught sight of the bag which hid the dress from his view. The blonde shrugged, at least he'd see it at the gala.
Adrien turned back to the homework on his desk, avoiding eye contact with Chloe, who was practically leaning over her own desk to catch his eye. He wasn't in the mood to turn down her obvious invitation to the dance, and thus brought his right hand up to his cheek, leaning forward and establishing a barrier between the two of them.
His thoughts drifted to the previous escapade with Ladybug, his mind's eye recounting all the small details of that evening. The curvature of her lover's peak on her light cherry lips, the flecks of darker blue that twisted from her cerulean eyes, her perfect, shining smile. His face relaxed into a blissful smile, which was easily interrupted when Nino knocked him on the arm.
"Adrien!" He called to his friend, "Helloooo?"
Adrien jolted in his seat, eyes now wide and alert. His friend smirked at his demeanor, and pointed to the pair of girls that sat behind them.
"Are you two going to the gala?" A girl he knew to be called Alya asked straight-forwardly.
Adrien's gaze shifted to the left, where Marinette sat sleepily, fidgeting slightly despite her condition. He smiled quietly at her actions, finding her polite and quiet demeanor rather refreshing in comparison to Chole's persistent narcissism. He looked to Nino, who shrugged in response.
"Yep!" Adrien responded, gaining a small glance from Marinette. He caught her eye and grinned, to which her face went red and she looked away. Odd, He thought.
Alya haughtily leaned forward in her seat.
"So, wanna join us?" She asked, one eyebrow raised.
Nino narrowed his eyes, a smirk playing across his lower face.
"Are you asking us to the dance?" He challenged.
"It's only a dance if you actually have moves." Alya's eyes narrowed to match Nino's.
"You're on!" Nino cried, turning to me, "We're going!"
Adrien rolled his eyes, and Marinette chuckled at their rivalry. Alya sat back in her seat, and gave a short clap of her hands.
"Perfect! It's a date."
Marinette dropped her jaw at Alya's forward advances. How could she be so obvious? Not to mention... Marinette glanced down the rows to see Chloe grinding her teeth in fury. Marinette sighed, Oh well. Her eyes drifted back to Adrien, who shot her a small wink. She couldn't fight the blush that flooded her cheeks.
The teacher called students to the front to collect their projects, Marinette drowsily lifted herself from the chair and made her way down the stairs. Perhaps if she'd had a wink of sleep the night before, she would have noticed the protruding white ballet slipper that hooked over her foot. Marinette let out a breathy gasp as she went toppling. She waited to meet the ground, a moment which never came. She finally felt the strong hands that were steadying her hips, and opened her eyes to meet a muscled, taught torso.
She lifted her gaze to meet the beautiful emerald eyes she'd always loved, filled with worry.
"Are you okay?" Adrien asked, concerned.
Marinette pushed herself away, enjoying the fleeting touch of his chest beneath her fingers. Her face felt steamy, and she staggered back in embarrassment.
"I-I'm totally great! Or, well, fine? I'm okay!" She stammered. Marinette mentally hit herself for sounding so incompetent, and moved around her crush to grab the bag from her teacher. She tried her hardest not to blush at the laughter erupting from some of her classmates. She hadn't even made it back to her seat when the bell rang, and people filed out the door in clusters. She let out a breath of relief.
It was finally the weekend, and Marinette couldn't wait to be greeted by her bed when she got home. She was clumsy in her regular state, she didn't know what troubles she'd cause when she was overtired.
Marinette flung her bags to the floor, and carefully hung up her dress in the closet. She took a running leap to flop onto her mattress, and sighed in relief. She'd just as soon closed her eyes, when her cell phone rang beside her. Chat Noir. She sighed, flipping open the phone and flinging it beside her onto her pillow, too exhausted to bring it to her ear. A whistle sounded from the phone.
"Is that your room, Ladybug? I never expected you to be into fashion design." Marinette's eyes flung open, and she grappled for her phone, which was strategically propped up in a specific lump on her pillow, allowing Chat a full view of her room. "What are you using that blue fabric for?"
Marinette grabbed the phone, careful to not show her face, and turned off the video function. A teasing whine played into her ear.
"Oh, come on. It could have been much worse." Chat joked.
He was right. It could have been way worse, Marinette glanced over to the pictures of Adrien that hung over her desk.
"What do you want, Chat?" She asked, annoyed. Her partner faked a hurt gasp on the other end.
"Well, seeing as there is glue covering the eiffel tower, I was assuming you'd want to join me in this particular hunting." Marinette could hear the wind blowing past him, he must be somewhere high up. The teen groaned, rubbing her eyes.
"An Akuma?" She muttered to herself. She placed the phone to her ear once more, "I'll be right there."
Marinette was still exhausted after she'd transformed, wobbling as she made her way onto her roof. She let out a groan, and sprung forward. When she'd arrived, much slower that she usually would, Chat was already in the middle of battle.
"Where were you?" He called out, half jokingly.
"Sorry, I got sidetracked." She murmured, rubbing her eyes for the second time. Chat dealt a good whack to the enemy, a gelatinous man who left a sticky substance in his wake. He spun away from the enemy and returned to her side, noticing her uneasy expression.
"Are you okay?" He grabbed her arm. She was breathing heavily, and had a queasy expression on her face. She turned to her partner, and gave him a grin. Chat blushed despite himself, admiring once again how his crime-fighting teammate was so incredibly beautiful.
"Perfect." She replied, steadying herself on her feet. "Let's do it."
Marinette stumbled forward a couple steps before falling into pace. Chat Noir hung back for a moment, concerned, before following her steps. The two spun around the enemy, who was now the size of a two story building, dealing useless blows into it's jelly-like body. Marinette began to pant heavily, pausing to rest her hands on her knees. She raised her hand.
"L-Lucky Charm!" She called quietly, watching the mysterious light pop a ticking device into her hand. An explosive? "Chat, move!" She cried, and flung the bomb into the mass of glue. Upon a dazzling explosion of red and yellow lights, a man fell onto the ground, and scratched his head, confused.
"Ack!" Marinette cried, a glob of the sticky yellow substance falling onto her feet and instantly hardening. She watched as Chat Noir was pinned to the wall of the building's rooftop by one arm, and struggled to get out.
Frustrated, Chat called upon his cataclysm to break free, running towards Marinette, who couldn't move her feet. She glanced up in desperation at Chat, she only had two dots left on her earrings, one which flickered and disappeared. Chat Noir, himself, was running out of transformation time. He grimaced, conflicted with whether he should stay, and aid the love of his life, or leave and save his identity.
"Chat Noir, leave! We don't have any time!" She began to smack at the yellow cast with her hands, to no use.
This was what made up his mind. He couldn't leave Ladybug like this! The last bright green dot began to flicker on his ring, and unconsciously, his instincts kicked in. He ran forward and embraced Ladybug, his transformation sputtering to a halt.
"Chat Noir!" Marinette cried.
Light began to travel up his legs, torso, and finally face. Adrien hid himself from her, clutching to her small back, his eyes wide as he tried to think of a solution. He glanced from left to right, up and down, and watched as Plagg came spiraling out of his ring. That was it!
"Ladybug, I know what to do." Adrien whispered into her ear.
"It doesn't matter." She whispered quietly back, "There's no time anyways."
Adrien jolted as her transformation ran out, closing his eyes as the light grazed his face. She slumped in his arms, defeated.
Adrien's heat rate increased twofold. In his arms, he held the only person that ever mattered to him. The love of his life. The person he's always known, but has never understood. Now, he had the chance to. All he had to do was take a step back, and look at her face. His heart pounded with indecisiveness.
"Chat." The sweet voice startled him, so close to his ear, "Why aren't you looking?"
Adrien's eyes widened, and his arms wrapped even tighter around the mysterious girl.
"I don't need to."
Marinette's blue eyes widened, her face heating at his change in character. This was incredibly unlike him, to be so sweet. Her heart pounded, despite knowing that she'd seen Adrien just a couple hours ago. How could she betray him? Or was she? Did she love Chat? She needed to get over this indecisiveness, she needed to show Chat Noir exactly how disappointing she was in reality. How awkward she was. How she stuttered, and could never clearly tell Adrien what she felt.
"Chat." Her voice was loud, strong. She placed her arms on his shoulders.
"Huh?" Adrien was confused, "What are you doing?"
"Chat!" She shoved Adrien away, "Look at me!"
Adrien clamped his eyes shut as he was pulled away. Marinette gasped.
"A-Adrien?!"
Adrien was so close to opening his eyes at her recognition, he slammed his arm over top of his view. He couldn't disrespect Ladybug's wishes.
"Adrien, you were Chat Noir?" Her voice came out in a whisper, and she took his free hand.
"I don't know who you are, and I know you want it to stay that way." Ardien whispered dejectedly.
Marinette shook her head. No way... I love Adrien, who is Chat, and Chat, he...
"Chat, do you love me?" Marinette asked, her eyes wide and shining, her hands shaking with anticipation.
Adrien grinned, his Chat Noir side peaking through.
"Of course, my lady!" He smirked. In a more serious tone, he squeezed her hand, "I love you." Adrien blushed, recognizing his statement now. "I-I mean, I really like you, but it's not like I'm obsessed or whatever-"
Marinette laughed, pulling his hand closer.
"Chat Noir- No, Adrien," She pulled him until she was inches away from his face. She glanced down to his lips, and blushed feverishly, "Look at me."
With her other hand, Marinette reached up to meet Adrien's, pulling it softly away from his face. His hand was strong, callused, familiar. She grinned, taking advantage of his eyes being clamped shut, and placed a tender kiss on his lips.
Adrien's eyes flew open, and Marinette pulled away. She chuckled.
"Got you." She smiled.
Adrien gaped. His classmate, Marinette. He saw her everyday. How had he not noticed her?! His hands released hers, and flew up to her cheeks. He examined her face, noticing the slight bridge of freckles that accented her nose, the streams of dark blue in her eye, the curve of her smooth, cherry lips.
"It's you." He whispered. "I never noticed. How, how could I have not noticed?"
Marinette grinned, "I feel the same."
Adrien's face fell slightly, "There's no way you know this feeling. I really, really wanted to meet you. I-, I can't describe the way I'm feeling right now."
Marinette grinned, filled with a new courage that wasn't there before. It was as if Ladybug was guiding her, was her. Oh wait, she was.
"You must really have been blind," She smirked, watching Adrien frown sadly, "To not have seen the way I feel about you, too."
Marinette and Adrien locked eyes, and he suddenly was overcome with incredible need. He pulled her face to his, pressing his lips to her own.
The kiss was unlike any other, even though the both of them hadn't had one in the past. It was intense, desperate. As though all the longing they'd stored, all the rejections they'd both been dealt by each other, was now transformed into lust, and greed. They were so close, every crease in their lips was locked together, not even an atom would've been able to slip through.
When finally they broke apart, each panting heavily, their eyes trained on the other's lips, it didn't last long. They smashed together again in effort to bridge the gap they'd tried to cross for so long. Adrien's arms moved from Marinette's cheeks to her hips, pressing her pelvis onto his own. Her arms encircled the back of his neck, twisting her fingers through his messy blonde hair. Small moans escaped Marinette's lip, much to Adrien's amusement. His tongue flicked across her lower lip in a plea for entrance, which was gleefully granted. The passion continued for what seemed like hours, until Marinette placed a hand on her beloved's chest, pushing him gently away.
"Um..." Despite her already flushed face, Marinette managed to feel more heat seep into her cheeks, "I can't feel my feet."
Adrien blinked, stepping back. He'd completely forgotten she'd been glued to the spot. His gaze met hers, and the two burst out laughing.
"Plagg!" He called, and transformed before Marinette into Chat Noir. She smiled at him, and he placed a peck onto her swollen lips.
"Cataclysm!" He called out, breaking the adhesive around Marinette's feet. She grinned as he looked up at her.
Adrien smirked and lifted her off her feet, one hand placed under her arms, the other under her knees. She cried out in surprise, and he chuckled, receiving a light smack on the arm. He ran across the rooftops, loving the warmth of her arms as they gripped his neck. Adrien landed on the balcony of his room, knocking the door open with his foot and placing Marinette atop his bed. Her hair was disheveled, and strands had escaped her pigtails. Every small detail was accentuated to Adrien, and he tugged her hair free from their holders, allowing it to fall over his blankets. His hands were placed on either side of her head, and she pulled him down to meet her by his bell. It was so unlike herself from school, it enticed the cat. She took notice of his excitement, and smirked as it pressed against his tight leather suit. Still holding the bell, she kissed him, pushing her tongue into his mouth with ease. She was confident. Secure. She knew for sure know.
Marinette loved the Chat side of Adrien, too.
After a few heated minutes of kissing, Chat Noir's transformation wore off. Adrien now crouched above her, his usually swept back blonde hair tickling her face. She let her hand run through it, and placed her hands on her longtime crush's neck. She could feel the heat under her fingers, and he leaned down to her own neck. Adrien tickled her neck with his lips, she could feel him grinning beside her. He placed a soft, feather-like kiss on her nape, triggering a shiver from Marinette. He kissed her, nipped at her, and left protective marks around her neck. She knew she would have to cover them, but was too preoccupied to think about it. She smirked, and flipped Adrien beneath her. The looser clothing allowed for her to know exactly how this made him feel.
She leaned down to his face, kissing him lightly, before trailing down to his own neck. He moaned lightly beneath her, and she chuckled, placing the first delicate kiss on his neck, then enacting her revenge on his own neck.
After hours of passionately exchanging their feelings, Marinette lay in his arms on the bed. Finally, her sleep deprivation had caught up to her, and she felt her eyes drooping. Adrien blushed, and grinned to her now shy demeanor. She gave him a soft smile, and he kissed the tip of her nose.
"Adrien." She whispered to him, "I love you."
He smiled to himself as her eyes closed and her breathing lengthened with sleep.
"I guess ladybugs really do bring good luck."
When the winter dance finally came on the Monday evening, Adrien arrived at Marinette's house and was warmly welcomed by her parents. When she entered the bakery, Adrien's eyes widened with awe. Her shoulder length black hair had been curled in loopy ringlets, her lips accentuated with a sexy shade of red. He hid his lust behind a sweet smile, to which she returned with a smile of her own, a sparkle of mischief behind her eyes. Marinette waved goodbye to her parents, and slipped her hand into Adrien's.
"What a coincidence to see you here, Chat Noir." She whispered into his ear. He was dressed in the most handsome of suits, his lithe and muscular body perfectly filling out the form. She'd taken her time in admiring his look, which he'd noticed with amusement. He grinned at the perfection of the moment, and Marinette squeezed his hand, "I must say, you look quite nice in black."
"It seems I finally know what the blue material was for." Adrien teased into her ear, "You are beautiful."
Marinette blushed despite herself.
"A-ah, well, you know, mom did my hair and all..." She stammered, her shy self showing through.
"I wasn't talking about what your mom did," She smirked slyly at her flushed face. He loved making her shier side show through, "I was only talking about you."
Marinette smiled and blushed, placing a soft kiss his onto his lips. They'd grown rather accustomed to the feel of each others lips.
"I love you, my black cat." She whispered onto his lips.
"And I love you," He grinned, "My lady."