4. Hot Steamy Kiss

How did it end up like this, she wondered?

Well, Marinette actually had a good idea.

Things with the day's villain, an akumaized gardener who called herself The Tangled Thorn, had been extremely…painful, to say the least. Both Ladybug and Chat Noir had suffered quite a few stabbings with the thorn attacks before they managed to purify the butterfly and go home.

It was arguably worse that they knew each other's identities now too. Well, it was easier to come up with cover stories and communicate, but there was the whole awkwardness of Chat liking Ladybug, whose civilian form liked Adrien, whose superhero was Chat Noir…

It had been a few weeks and they hadn't addressed their feelings at all, pushing them back to focus on school, modeling, designing, and patrolling…until now.

Marinette had been bandaging up her wounds on her roof when she was suddenly visited by Chat, asking how she was. And the answer was clear with the dish filled with thorns she had pulled out of her skin, a small rag nearby with blotches of blood.

The next thing Marinette knew, she was being pressed against the railing of the balcony with Chat's lips over hers. The kiss was sloppy, heated, almost desperate actually.

One of his hands was gripping her shoulder, though he was careful not to let his claws graze her skin and draw more blood than she had drawn already. His other was on her hip, preventing her from pulling away as if she could – as if she wanted to, she realized.

Her hands were grazing his hips as well, pulling his body even closer to hers than it was already. His slight grimace told her that he was still injured, but he refused to part from her, only moving his lips down to her collarbone, making her gasp.

"C-Chat…someone could hear…someone could see…!" Marinette struggled to say, yelping when she felt him gently scrape his tongue up from her collarbone to the shell of her ear. "Chat!"

"Let them hear, let them see," murmured Chat, his voice low and breathless, doing funny things to the poor girl. "Let them know how much I want you…how much I care…"

"Chat…" Marinette murmured, her hands moving to his chest. "Is this about what happened today?"

Chat tensed up, answering her question. Suddenly, his flirty demeanor dropped and she was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace, his face buried in the crook of her neck. His transformation was done in an instant, leaving being a tired but silent Plagg. Tikki, who had been hiding until now, gestured towards him and the two kwamis disappeared inside to let their bearers talk.

"Ch-Adrien, I'm fine, you know," murmured Marinette after a few moments of dead silence. No, not dead – comforting, reassuring silence. "We can't always come out of a battle harmless. Not even I'm not that lucky."

"But I don't want to see you hurt…I don't like seeing you hurt, knowing I could have protected you," confessed Adrien quietly, his breath tickling her neck, the vibrations from his words making her giggle lightly.

Marinette hesitated before she reached up and began to stroke his hair, a gesture she hoped was comforting. From the small purring she was hearing, her hopes were with good reason (although she was going to tease him about the purring later).

"I don't like seeing you hurt either, and you would have gotten even more hurt than you did if you tried to protect me even more," she argued. "Adrien, I wouldn't be able to stand it knowing you got hurt because of me. Partner, friend, whatever…I don't want to see you as hurt."

"…friend?" Adrien repeated, pulling away slowly to look into her eyes. "You think we're friends?"

"Well, I did until that kiss," remarked Marinette, eyes wide. "Do you not want to be friends? W-We can go back to being just classmates by day and partners by night, i-if you want."

"No, I don't want that," replied Adrien, shaking his head immediately. "I don't want to be friends or classmates by day, and partners by night."

"O-Oh," said Marinette dumbly, a little hurt. "T-Then what do you want to be?" She stammered, noticing how serious Adrien had gotten, even more so than he was before. He still looked wounded, still a delicate little kitten, but only she would be able to tell that.

"I want to be partners by day and night," murmured Adrien, leaning in a little closer with a false-confidence exposed by his reddening cheeks. "So I can protect you wherever we are."

"D-Day and night?" Marinette repeated, confused. "How can we be partners day and night? I don't – ohh…"

Her cheeks flooded with color. "I thought we were avoiding talking about it."

"Well, now I don't want to," replied Adrien, much like a stubborn child. "I love you, Marinette. Both as you and as Ladybug; you are the only person I love. I'm sorry it took me a while to understand."

Marinette blinked and then she smiled brightly. "I love you too, Adrien. I admit Chat took some time to win me over, but he succeeded in the end. I love you, all of you, and I'm sorry it took me a while to reach that decision too. And seeing you hurt today…it made me realize how much I love you."

Adrien smiled, closing his eyes and pressing his lips against hers once more, the kiss gentler than before. It was short and sweet, as he pulled away just seconds later and continued to hold her.

"…would you really not care if anyone heard us, saw us?" Marinette had to ask a few minutes later, receiving a laugh of embarrassment from the blond.

"I would care a little," he confessed. "But why should I be that embarrassed to be caught giving my girlfriend attention?" He smirked at her. "Let the world know I think she's absolutely purr-fect."

"Ah, Adrien, you ruined the moment, you silly kitty," remarked Marinette, blushing despite her giggles. "Don't you have to get home soon?"

"I always have time for you, Princess," replied Adrien, smiling as he leaned in a little closer.

"Well, you adjusted fast – I suppose you're just a fan of nicknames, aren't you? But really, do you have to go home?"

"Mm. Not for another hour or so, why?" Adrien asked once he glanced at the time.

It was Marinette's turn to give him a devilish smirk.

"Because Chat had his fun – it's my turn now, kitty."

...

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Two chapters in one day? I'm on fire! :D