"Please tell me it's not Adrien."

Marinette knew it was useless to try to fool herself, as there were numerous reasons as to why she knew for a fact that Adrien was the one at her bedside.

Firstly, he was Chat Noir. That was undeniable.

Secondly, Chat Noir needed to come for Plagg at some point.

Thirdly, she could smell him.

It's not like she took a whiff when he wasn't looking but it was just something that she had caught in passing without paying attention. It was the kind of smell you didn't know you had and people associated you with (and you secretly hoped that your own smell wasn't bad.) Adrien's smell was soothing and lulling... but when he was Chat Noir... well. Marinette still had difficulties admitting to herself that she found his scent attractive. It was a mix of leather and cheese but with an obvious blend of Adrien's natural aroma. If she didn't know any better she could have sworn that Chat Noir did it on purpose.

She felt his hand curl around her own and her heart melted to the touch.

"I hate to disappoint you, my Lady, but I'm not that easy to scare away."

She would have able to act relatively normally if he hadn't kissed her hand, she told herself. Instead, when she felt his lips on her knuckles her eyes shot open and her gaze landed solidly on his waiting green ones.

She had expected to see a well-put together model holding her hand but instead was greeted by a disheveled blond boy with a debonair grin and two kwami on his shoulders. (Who looked like his conscience really, Tikki on one shoulder Plagg on the other.)

Adrien looked a lot more like Chat at that moment and it made it easier for Marinette's poor confused soul. She could see the separate personalities fit strangely well into one round picture... Where Chat could be a gentleman, Adrien could be a jokester. Chat could be heroic and poised, Adrien could be jealous and childish. She could count on her hand the amount of times she had seen Adrien grin and on all of those occasions she felt a strange familiarity that she now knew was recognition.

Then her eyes caught onto the blue scarf he had around his neck and she wanted to die emotionally.

'He was right there!' She thought, slightly frustrated. 'Chat Noir was right there the entire time...' The loneliness, the cravings for affection, the over the top advances... They all made sense now that they all pointed to Adrien.

It was a relief when he spoke up first, as she definitely could not form a single coherent sentence.

"Hello Marinette."

'Oh dear.' She thought as she felt her entire face flare up into a deep blush. She didn't think it was possible for her face to become even more red. Her eyes shifted from his gaze to his hold on her hands as he smirked.

"Perhaps if the lady would prefer, I could call you Princess instead?"

She was wrong; her blush got worse.

She recalled the time Chat Noir came to Marinette in order to deal with the Evillustrator, how he flexed and tried to impress her and how Adrien had asked her what she thought of Chat Noir. She thought of the day where Chat Noir picked her up and carried her kilometres away from the Gamer, and recently how Chat picked her up from the street and practically flew across Paris to get her to a hospital while whimpering and blinking away the tears in his eyes...

Her own eyes started to water as she came to a sudden realization.

He had always cared.

She didn't realize she was crying until she caught the sight of distress and panic on Adrien's features.

His expression had gone from teasing to panic the second her tears started to fall. His playful smirk was quietly replaced by a stuttering soundless gaps of his mouth and he released her hand in favour of holding her cheeks with both of his gentle hands.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what I said to-! Please don't cry! I don't have to call you Princess if you don't want to-" he blabbered out, in a typically Marinette fashion. A year ago she wouldn't have even dreamed of hearing Adrien stutter but there he was, in all of his disheveled glory fumbling over his words and shattering the 'Flawless Model Adrien' she had put up on a pedestal over the years.

She didn't stop her tears as she smiled, relieved. Adrien's words died on his tongue as he looked at her confused. He didn't have time to ask her what was wrong before she wrapped her arms around his torso, bringing him into a hug he hadn't been expecting. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and into the blue scarf, still somewhat smelling her own scent in between the threads; but that could be part of her delusion, she concluded. She began to laugh lightly when she felt his whole body become rigid, she knew Chat reacted that way to sudden bouts of friendship and affection, freezing like a deer caught in headlights.

Adrien froze for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her softly, avoiding the large bandaging where she had been hurt. He hadn't been expecting that many emotions to carry one after the other like he had seen, there were just so many! Even by Marinette standards.

He melted into the hug once he could feel Marinette's fingers playing with the longer strands of hair that touched his neck. As they circled in soothing motions it reduced him to putty in her arms. Adrien closed his eyes as his forehead rested in the crook of her shoulder, taking deep breaths and treasuring her eerily familiar scent (while mentally combining it with that of Ladybug's that he had definitely smelt while dealing with animan.)

"It's ok." She reassured him, hearing his breathing slow as her fingers massaged his scalp. "You can call me Princess if you want."

He gave a distracted hum of approval, his attention entirely diverted to what she was doing in his hair. She smiled as his body was completely limp against hers, she didn't know she could make him that way. She filed that kind of information away for another time as she loosened her hold on him, and leaned back into her mountain of stiff hospital pillows.

He blinked slowly, as to push the new sleepiness away from his body, before his gaze returned to his Lady, who was smiling and blushing slightly.

"I um." She began, avoiding his gaze by looking off to the side and to her fingers. "Sorry. I know that must have been confusing for you." She risked a glance into his direction and felt her nervousness whittle away at the sight of his satisfied smile.

"How strong are your painkillers?" He asked her with his arms crossed and his elbows resting on her mattress.

She shrugged with a loopy smile. "I don't know." She smiled as he laughed. "But I don't feel a thing!"

She saw a hint of mischief in his gaze but the blushing that followed in his usually composed features made her immensely curious at what kind of thought had gone through his mind.

He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck.
"On a completely different subject," her eyebrow rose at how he insisted the difference in topics, it only confirmed her suspicions of what Adrien almost said seconds before. "the Mayor set some pretty strict rules to every hospital, have you heard about that perchance?"

Marinette frowned and shook her head slightly.
"No. I don't get much news from anyone. I was sleeping for most of the time."

Adrien nodded before continuing. "That makes sense." He whispered to himself. "Well the Mayor basically announced that under no circumstance can people force Ladybug to reveal herself, so all hospitals have set up checkpoints and barriers to keep anyone that isn't family or close friends out."

Her expression was of pure shock with a hint of satisfaction. "Really? That's explains so much actually..." Marinette smiled as she remembered how nervous the nurses were. She assumed it was related to the stresses of the job but now she knew that every nurse basically told themselves that any patient in recovery could be Ladybug.

Marinette returned her attention to a lightly blushing Adrien and that was when the gears in her mind stopped.
"Wait. How did you get in then? If Plagg was here with me and not with you..."

The way she saw it, there were three possibilities.

Adrien could have climbed through a window. But seeing as it was raining outside for the past hour and he was relatively dry, the chances of that were unlikely.

He could have snuck his way in after making some hospital personnel chase him all over the hospital, that was also unlikely.

Or he could have claimed to be someone close to her and manage to fool whoever was in charge.

Considering his lightly flustered features and Tikki's bright overly proud smile, Marinette knew exactly which option he had chosen.

"Adrien... Did you-?"

"Yes. Yes I did. I regret absolutely nothing although now I realize that maybe coming off as your boyfriend may have been presumptuous and maybe just a little forward but I needed to see you and they called your parents to verify and I guess your mother likes me cause they let me in but-"

He stopped his blabbering when Marinette started laughing, muffling her giggles with her hand as tears started to form in the corner of her eyes. Adrien couldn't stop the grin on his features as her happy free laugh filled the room, he could practically hear Tikki's little heart flutter at the sound. By the look of the spotted kwami's smile he knew he was right to think that Tikki was just as invested in whatever they had as he was.

"They called my mother?" She asked once she could breathe between breaths. Adrien had to cover his non-apologetic smile as her expression went from a jubilant gigglefest to a horror-stricken realization within the seconds that followed. "They called my mother." She whispered, her gaze shifting to Adrien. "And they let you in." Adrien could definitely hear Marinette's mantra of "Oh no"s.

She covered her face with her hands and muffled her words but she didn't account for the fact that Adrien had ridiculously good hearing when he paid attention, "I can see it now... they'll invite him to dinner and they'll interrogate him, and stuff his mouth with croissants, and my dad will challenge him to a Mecha Strike III tournament that will last forever cause he hates being defeated and then they'll kidnap him and I'll be forced to pay ransom and-"

Adrien couldn't stop the grin on his features from spreading into his signature smile. He leaned forward and caught how she shifted her gaze and shot him a suspicious look. Adrien kept his grin as he spoke, "She even asked them if I was cute."

Marinette fell dead silent and stared at the wall, letting her fingers fall to cover her lips as she glared ahead. If she were a cartoon, Adrien could have sworn that he heard computer rebooting sounds, but that just wasn't possible he told himself.

"She did what?" She asked monotone, her blush threatening to invade her skin forever as a permanent feature.

Adrien couldn't help himself as he leaned in some more with a playful smirk. "I might be wrong but she might have asked if I brought flowers too."

Marinette's gaze snapped to his own as he winked. He smiled as he could imagine what the two of them looked like. The contrast of her exaggerated neutrality and his teasing winks made a funny combination but if they were honest it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The only difference were the absences of masks and his puns.

"And um Did you? Bring flowers I mean." Only certain types of people brought flowers to hospitals and those were family and close friends and guilt-ridden people and couples.

Adrien let out a noise of contemplation. "Yes and no."

She raised an eyebrow. "Meaning?"

"Yes I did, but no I didn't bring them from outside. I improvised."

Marinette opened her mouth but closed it just as quickly. 'I don't want to know.' She decided, looking over to the, now bigger, bouquet of flowers on her window still.

There was a moment of silence between them and Marinette didn't know how to feel about it either. Usually when there were silences between Chat and her it was because of patrol or an Akuma attacked or she was figuring out a plan with the lucky charm in her hands. But with this new kind of silence she didn't know what to do with it.

Should she remain quiet and just soak in the idea of knowing her longtime partner's identity or...

She didn't have to think much longer about it as she heard Adrien clear his throat and shift in his seat.

"Marinette?" His small voice broke her out of her thoughts. As her eyes looked into his she knew what he was about to say. The lightness and joking tendencies had gone and was replaced by sadness and guilt.

She didn't like the look of guilt on him, it didn't suit him right.

Before he could speak she leaned forward and raised her hand and pressed her index finger against his loft lips with a small smile of her own.

"No." She whispered softly. "Don't you start, Chat Noir." She saw a flicker of something in his expression but the sadness didn't leave as much as she hoped it would. "This isn't your fault."

Adrien closed his eyes as he sighed, taking her delicate fingers in his hand and kissing her knuckles, acting almost on habit.

There was another silence between them, which was much shorter than the previous one. Adrien kept his eyes on her fingertips as he began to speak.

"How long have you known?" He asked, risking a glance in her general direction.

"A week." She answered softly, as if the nurse would walk in suddenly and learn all of their secrets. His gaze went back to her fingers and she felt a sudden disappointment at the disappearance of his green eyes on her.

He nodded slowly as he began to compare what he had learnt and what he had observed himself in class. She leaned back slowly and was pleased that Adrien's light hold on her hand remained. As if to keep something of hers in his hands, he scooted his chair closer to her bed to remain within arms reach. She squeezed his fingers in the hopes that it would soothe him, even if it was only slightly.

"I had my first ... dream two weeks ago." She began as his gaze went back up. She wanted to keep his attention until he no longer had that look in his eyes. She had seen both Adrien and Chat Noir sad far too often for her liking.

"It had started as any other really." She shrugged. "One second I was somewhere fictional and the next I was Ladybug, running across the rooftops and throwing my yoyo around various lampposts and buildings. I turned around and you were there too, right behind me." She saw a small smile hint at his lips but it didn't stay long. "We landed on a rooftop, where we could see les Champs Élysées from where we stood and suddenly your mask came off." He remembered the spot she spoke of, it was where he had told her he'd risk his life to save hers the day of the akuma attack.

She chuckled as her other hand covered half of her face in slight embarrassment. "I woke up in a sweat, starring at Tikki and I started to blubber nonsense sentences. I managed to convince myself that what I saw was rubbish and that was that. Until a few days after." She felt something close to hope when he hadn't lowered his gaze, she pressed on to not lose the sight of his green eyes that she wished she could make happy again. "We both stood on the same roof and your mask was still off but then, instead of waking up, I heard you say, 'I'd do anything to protect you my Lady'... There was a flash of red and I saw your face that was far too pale... That was all it was though, a flash." Marinette shook her head as she remembered seeing and hearing those words leave his real lips, how the two sentences overlapped into fictional and real life. "I didn't even let that one finish. I was hearing Chat's words out of Adrien's mouth and I panicked." She returned her gaze to Adrien's, she saw his mind merge what she had seen and what he had said and suddenly her spooked reaction at the time made slightly more sense.

"I was still able to function after that dream though and I started noticing similarities between you and Chat, the little things I didn't notice before. How you walked, talked, how your face would scrounge up when you knew you had the opportunity to make a joke but didn't."

He smiled at that with an exhale that sounded like a chuckle, and she smiled too.

"But then the nightmare came. And I couldn't wake from that one." She cleared her throat as she had been repressing that particular memory from the moment she had seen it. She felt Tikki's presence on her shoulder, her soft hand was pressed against the skin of her neck as she smiled lightly.

"I showed him Marinette." She spoke in her calm voice. "You don't need to say it."

Marinette's shoulders shook a little as she looked away from them, instead focusing her attention to the foot of the bed. "No I-" she took a deep breath and she could feel Adrien's hand squeeze hers as it came out much shakier than she intended. "I need to say this." She tried again, looking back towards Tikki with a small smile before turning her gaze to Adrien's.

"I need to say this." She spoke a little louder than before but it was still nearly a whisper. He waited patiently for her to speak as he rubbed small circles on her hand.

"That nightmare came back when we vaulted over Paris and when I saw the akuma... I knew what was about to happen." She didn't look away from Adrien's hurt eyes, not that time.
"That was what I was trying to tell you yesterday, before the fight. I made you promise and yet you did it anyway."

It was his turn to look down as shame and regret pulled at his heart. His shoulders started to shake when he opened his mouth to apologize profusely and sincerely, he felt his Lady's arms snake around his torso once more and pull him to her chest with a little more strength than before. She brought him up into the mattress at her side in one smooth motion, with a strength he knew came from all her time as Ladybug.

He wrapped his arms around her upon contact and didn't shy away or freeze as his fingers clung to her hospital gown. He barely heard her small voice over his silent plea for forgiveness. "But you always did dumb things to protect me... Kitty I'm so sorry." She shook lightly in his hold but instead of releasing him, she buried her face in his neck again, her features completely engulfed by the blue scarf around his neck. "I knew you wouldn't even think twice about it." She wanted to say more but found that her throat couldn't let anything else through. Her shoulders started to shake and Adrien couldn't stop the tear from falling down his cheek as he held her tighter, hoping that she could feel how scared he had been and still was. All he heard from Marinette's lips were soft whimpers and it tore his heart to bits.

"I'm sorry Marinette..." He apologized, his own voice shaking and breaking. "I was willing to pay the price it took for you..." His heart screamed at him to confess his feelings, confess everything but his mind took over. His heart didn't know how to read situations and this was not the time. "I didn't want to lose you." He said instead, pressing his lips to the side of her head and whatever was available to him.

They stayed like that for a while, arms wrapped around the other in a desperate plea to try and forget what nearly happened. Adrien knew she didn't blame him and it did help, but it was still his doing that brought his Lady to the hospital. She'd argue that he saved her too but it was his doing that brought her there in the first place.

They were quiet for a long time until he heard Marinette's silent hiccups. Adrien loosened his hold on her and his heart plummeted as he saw tears go down her cheeks. He cupped her face softly with both hands and kissed her forehead, she smiled as she closed her eyes.

"I told myself I wasn't going to cry." She admitted defeated, feeling Adrien wipe away her tear with his thumb. "Yet here I am."

Adrien swallowed the lump in his throat as her blue eyes opened. They enraptured him so completely that he didn't register that his lips started to move.

"I told myself I'd never fail you and never do anything to anger you," her expression became sad as she leaned into his hand with a slight shake of her head. "Yet here I am."

She touched his hand that lay on her cheek with a softness he wasn't expecting. Her blue eyes looked into his sad green ones with a determination he could only remember seeing on Ladybug's features. "I'd never hate you, it's against my nature. And Adrien?" He replied with a light hum. "You could never fail me."

Tikki tried to contain her squeal from creeping out of her lips. She was settled in Plagg's improvised little nest high up on the curtain rod and she had to tackle the cat kwami into the corner so he'd stop interfering. She loved that cat but sometimes he could truly be a nuisance.

Tikki's expression lit up as she saw Adrien's smile. Marinette started blushing furiously as she noticed the words that came out of her mouth and stuttered profusely, her stutters didn't hinder Adrien's advance. He leaned inwards slowly with one hand still cupping her cheek gently as she blabbered on, saying something about how the painkillers were making her touchy and she apologized a few thousand times before Adrien was inches from her face.

"Marinette..." He whispered, causing her words to halt suddenly and her cheeks to flare up into a new different kind of red.

"Y-yes?" She whispered back, her eyes darting from his lips to his eyes.

He crept a little forwards and Tikki was so happy her little heart could burst. They were so close she wished she could bump into them and make them kiss but she wanted to see it with her own eyes, she was very invested.

'It's happening!' She thought with glee.

Well that was until she noticed that the damn cat was no longer restrained.

"Adrieeeeennnnn!" She heard him wail and her eyes opened wide as the two teens froze. Adrien's forehead touched Marinette's as sighed sharply and turned his head towards the grumpy kwami, without bothering to cover his unimpressed demeanour.

"Yes Plagg?"

"Do I need to remind you that you still owe me buckets of Camembert?"

Marinette couldn't help but giggle at Adrien's glare but felt disappointed as he lowered his hand from her cheek and put them in his hoodie's pockets, however he didn't move away. 'So close!' She thought to herself, her cheeks still red and warm.

She smiled as she saw the two of them bicker, well Plagg bickered and Adrien answered him with dejected "Yes Plagg"s.

Once Plagg was done giving Adrien a piece of his hungry mind, the blond boy turned to Marinette with a sheepish smile. "I guess this is my cue." He told her with a shrug.

She wrapped her arms around her waist as she flashed him a very Ladybug like grin. "Don't be a stranger." She chuckled.

Something seemed to grow inside of him as he saw her in that light. She was as bright as a tomato yet she had her back straight, her arms crossed, her playful smile decorated her lips... It was like a slap to the face as he saw Ladybug and Marinette merge perfectly.
She always cared. He realized at that moment.

His mind turned off as he surged forwards, his fingers tilting her chin up for his lips to meet hers.

Her lips were soft and her cheeks were still warm from the blush that didn't settle. She made a sound of surprise before he felt her lashes brush against his own cheeks. He started to smirk at the image of Marinette's eyes open wide in surprise but that visual didn't stay for long after she wrapped her arms around his neck loosely.

He didn't plan for the kiss to last long but he found that he had no urge to leave anytime soon, if ever.

He could feel Plagg bump into the back of his head but Adrien ignored him as he wrapped one arm around Marinette's waist, bringing her closer to him.

She let out a little whine and that sound did things to him, his body temperature increased tenfold and his need to be flush against her was a great need that could never be quenched. He only hoped she was having a similar experience on her end, but judging by the way she clung to his hoodie he had a pretty good idea.

He felt himself slow down and rested his forehead on hers, taking deep breaths that tangled with hers. She opened her eyes before his, and was greeted with an even more disheveled Adrien with a flustered face, hair sticking out from all over, his blush receding much like her own. She smiled brightly as her hand came up to cup his cheek as she kissed his nose.

He laughed as she did and slowly opened his eyes and Marinette felt her heart beat its way out of her rib cage.

There, right before her, was Adrien Agreste who was finally happy. His smile spread from cheek to cheek and his green eyes shone bright and unhinged by the previous sadness and guilt. She vowed that she would defeat a thousand akumas to make him happy again, because it was the most precious and beautiful thing she had even seen.

He cleared his throat as he felt Plagg run into his side again. He grabbed her hand in his as he spoke. "Well I guess I really do need to go now." He whispered. Marinette smiled once more and nodded as she leaned back slightly, putting some more space between them. She figured that if they remained with their foreheads touching for too long he'd never leave and Plagg would become even more unmanageable.

"Go." She smiled at his loopy smile. She gave his shoulder a small push to get him going. "Go on. Feed your needy kwami before he drives Tikki up the walls."

"It's me he's going to drive up the walls." He replied with a smirk. He kept her hand in his as he got up from the mattress and once he was standing and no longer breathing the same air as his Lady he found that he could think a little clearer. He discovered that he enjoyed not being able to think...

"Will I see you tomorrow?" She asked, not pulling her hand back from his hold.

Adrien smiled as he nodded. "I don't think anything could possibly keep me away."

"Well tomorrow is a Tuesday, don't you have a-" her eyes opened in slight panic as she slammed her mouth shut. Adrien laughed heartily.
"You didn't hear anything!" She said through her teeth, more out of embarrassment then of anger. He simply winked at her with a grin.

"Oh I'm sure you'll find ways to get me to forget my Lady." He whispered as he kissed her hand for the last time that night.

Marinette blushed at the tone of his voice, still trying to get used to Chat and Adrien sharing the same everything.

"In that case you better get going so I can make up my mind." She replied with a nudge of her head directing his attention to an increasingly irritated Plagg. "Also, give the poor cat his cheese before destroys everything you own."

Adrien sighed as he let go of her hand and tugged his hoodie a little loose. "Come on Plagg." He beckoned over.

"Finally!" The kwami sighed with a dramatic huff, boasting his chest outward, and flying into Adrien hoodie. "If I don't have any Camembert in the next hour I just might die!" He added, a little muffled by the fabric. Adrien rolled his eyes with an endearing smile.

"You say that all the time Plagg."

Marinette giggled as Tikki made a snide comment about how Plagg had been saying that particular sentence ever since Camembert was invented.

Adrien made his way to the door and waved before leaving with a heart that was beating twice as fast as before. He felt light on his feet and warm everywhere on the inside. This wasn't the way he had imagined their reveal would go but he couldn't argue with the results.

They were both alive and as it turns out kissing was a lot more enjoyable then health class made it seem.

He made it to the Agreste Mansion barely a half an hour later and once he was back into the coldness of his room he became restless. So he took his bag, filled it with homework and turned to his personal floating glutton.

Plagg sighed as he knew what Adrien would say.

"Plagg, claws out!"

/-/-/-/

Adrien and Marinette spent that entire night talking to each other, about everything and nothing, to the point of exhaustion.

The next thing they knew it was morning and their legs were intertwined, both comfortably settled on Marinette's hospital bed. They woke to the sound of Marinette's father's loud 'ahem' and they knew they owed Tom and Sabine an explanation.

They both stuttered and blubbered with bright red faces as Sabine took a picture with a sly smile. But as Tom and Sabine made no move to push off the bright red blond boy, Marinette and Adrien wordlessly decided not to deny anything that they already accepted.

They were partners after all.

/-/-/-/

So that concludes that! This started as a One Shot that exploded way out of proportion. As it stands now there's a sequel in the works, mainly based around Marinette's recovery and general shenanigans. I'm saying this here because if the Sequel does happen I'll post the preview as the next chapter in this story's page (so that you guys don't have to refresh anything or follow out of necessity, you know?)

For those who are curious about Adrien's thought that made him blush around the painkiller conversation, it was something along the lines of:

"Yes but do you still feel your lips". This boy is hopeless I tell you. And I love him.

It's been a pleasure doing business with you all! Thank you so much for all your reviews and follows! Hopefully you'll hear from me soon! :D
- Addira