Chapter Eleven

Marinette was singing to herself as she tidied, the iPod on her desk filtering soft Christmas music into the room. Her voice was quiet, sweet and lovely, not that she thought so. But the boy perched outside at the window, one hand raised to knock, had stilled to listen because he most definitely thought so.

She was dancing, he realised. Gently, swaying as she lifted things and dropped things in her little wastepaper bin, turning in delicate shapes as she opened drawers, a soft movement of her shoulders, her bending down and back to her feet in an elegant movement to the beat of the violin leading the old song.

He almost didn't want to interrupt, watching her steal his heart all over again with the way she spun slowly in a basic ballet movement, clearly untrained but beautiful, her lashes resting on her cheeks and a vague, sweet smile on her lips.

It was enchanting.

"Cat!"

Ahh. He smiled bashfully, his ears softening, lowering an inch or so. He'd been caught. Marinette was standing, pink dancing across her cheeks and fondness battling embarrassment in her azure eyes.

He loosed the fist he'd made to knock, pointing unnecessarily at the glass.

"I was going to knock." he told her honestly.

Marinette strode over, hands settling on her hips as she looked up at him through the glass.

"Yeah? When?"

He gave a nervous laugh, reaching for the back of his neck.

"Right away?"

Marinette rolled her eyes, biting back a grin.

"You're an idiot." she said, before standing up on her toes to push the skylight open for him.

He dropped down, taking her hand as he landed on one knee.

"Hi." he said, awkward, before bravely placing a kiss on the knuckles of her hand.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, voice losing the edge it had, even though she pulled her hand away like always.

Cat straightened up, chuckling again.

"I figured… Well, seeing as I already know, I thought I'd swing by and pick you up for patrol."

Marinette shot him a playfully suspicious look.

"You just don't want me to go out in the cold on my own." she deduced, grinning when his awkward, You-caught-me face confirmed it.

At her triumphant expression Cat rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. His tail jerked from side to side.

"That's not the only reason. I want to make sure you're okay too, but I…"

The fight fell out of him and he rubbed his neck, flashing her a weak smile.

"I just wanted to pick you up."

Marinette was sure her heart was going to be a useless puddle by the end of the night if he kept that look on his face.

"Okay." she said, finding a giggle on her lips at the way he lit up, smile in place and ears falling softly against his hair.

"Now, Marinette?" asked a friendly voice.

Both teens turned to see Tikki rising from her favourite place on Marinette's pillow, fluttering over to hover between them.

"Tikki." Marinette told him, gesturing a little towards the Kwami, "I guess really you've met her already."

"Ahh.. Uhm, Yes." Cat replied, thinking again of that moment, of steam and heat and his best friend lying in the water.

Of her lying in the snow.

His stomach lurched with a wave of protective affection, and his face began ti burn.

"It's lovely to see you again, Cat Noir." Tikki said, giving him a smile that was as lovely as Marinette's, her eyes bright and friendly, "Would you please tell Plagg I said hello?"

Cat Noir nodded, raising two fingers to his forehead in a cheesy salute.

"Cat's honour." he promised.

Marinette rolled her eyes as she cupped her hands for Tikki, but she was smiling all the same.

"Ready, Tikki?"

"Ready!"

"Spots on!"

Cat Noir watched the dazzling pink light envelope his friend, his heart beginning to lose its stability as he watched something sacred, something personal and secret that Marinette was showing him. Something nobody else was ever to know. He felt his heart throb hard, once, with the love he felt right then.

When it was done and the last pink sparkles of light had winked out, LadyBug was standing before him, her eyes so very deep and blue behind her mask.

Patrol was different, that evening. Not in a way it never had been before, but different. Deeper. Cat Noir watched LadyBug swing through their city and he listened to her joyous, free whoops of laughter and he called alongside her, their voices shrieking and silly and childish in the falling night. Cat Noir watched her and he saw her behind the mask. He saw her, for who she was.

And if he thought he'd loved her completely before knowing then boy was he wrong. Dead wrong. Because now? Now he loved her more than he could fathom, the feeling weighted and important where it lay inside his heart. It made everything… more. Crossing paths as they travelled, bounding over her swing and catching her eye as they passed, watching the way she landed now, without the fear, the stumble she used to have in their beginning. The way she threw the yo-yo out and knew where it would take her, the way she kicked snow across the rooftops at him when she swung over his head.

Even her laugh sounded different now, sweeter, richer. More familiar.

Cat Noir was completely and utterly in love with her, and he couldn't imagine feeling happier than he did right then. Eve if she never knew who he was, if she didn't want to know, he'd always have her, her secrets, her friendship. Her smile flashed his way. It made his eyes tingle, and he had to blink away a tear or two, feeling all that emotion bundled and warm and snug inside of him, just wanting to reach out and touch the world to let it know how he felt. To make it feel it too.

"Let's test your reflexes!" came a cry, and when he turned towards it he received a fateful of snow, a light, angelic laugh following behind.

"Gotcha!" she cried, and the game was on.

Cat chased her through the snow, dodging and weaving her throws, taking several before he even managed to find a rhythm that allowed him to scoop up ammunition of his own. He tossed it her way, catching her knee because she was too fast, leaping out of the way. Her laughter was so gorgeous, so entrancing.

Cat chased her and evaded her, hitting his mark a mere handful of times. But it was worth the shock of wet snow in his collar, the yowls that he couldn't always manage to catch before they left his tongue. It was worth the teasing, fond comments about his cat nature. It was worth it all because it was all wonderful.

By the time the moon was coming out they had circled back towards her balcony, Cat leading for a time, using the tightly-built chimney pots for protection. When they got back she retransformed, sending Tikki inside where the warmth was, concerned for the kwami's dislike of the biting temperature.

"I won't be out long." she'd had to promise when the little ladybug voiced hesitation, "And Cat's with me. He'll make sure I'm okay."

"Cat's honour." was his instant response, but the playful tone didn't make Marinette doubt for a minute that he wasn't serious.

She was watching the moon, breathing in the quiet winter air when Cat eventually spoke in a lovely, familiar whisper.

"I… I wondered if you'd… If you want to know who I am. Considering I know, I mean. Or if…" His soft green eyes ghosted over her face, making her tremble on the inside, "If you know, already."

"I… I think I'm getting there." she hedged, "With knowing." Her lips twisted in a teasing smile and her eyes lit up, "I like jigsaw puzzles. Putting all the pieces together. It's…"

She broke off to laugh, a giggle that warmed his heart as her eyes flashed his way.

"It's been driving me crazy, but I… Well. I have a guess."

His heart began to thunder in his chest, making it hard to breathe. He swallowed and almost choked, anticipation tightening his vocal chords as he stared at her. She was watching him carefully, her eyes thoughtful and deep as the sea. He cleared his throat, trying his very best to smile cockily. It didn't really work, but it made her blush. He could see it creeping across her moonlight-kissed cheeks.

"You want to know?" he whispered.

"Do you want me to?" she whispered back, making him realise so suddenly how close they were sitting, how easy it would be to just reach out and touch her cheek, how little he would have to lean in to kiss her.

"Yes." he decided, wanting nothing more than he wanted their friendship to bloom the way it had in their suits.

Marinette nodded, not a flicker of surprise in her eyes, her smile gentle and lovely. She had known he would want to share his identity, he realised, and somehow seeing that made him feel hot all over and it was sweet and intense and a little scary. But in a good way.

She knew him.

"Then yes." she breathed, gazing up at him with an emotion in her eyes that looked so soft and so devoted that it made him shiver.

His hands were shaking, his heart thumping as adrenaline coursed through him, his face hot, his head buzzing and a feeling that was equal parts fearful and sweet flooding him.

Marinette took a breath, her eyes on his as she let it out in a quiet, steady whistle.

"A boy so good at so many things it makes me dizzy," she began, her smile both shy and steady, "who always gives me time to talk and always listens when I do, even when I'm rambling."

Her gaze finally dropped to her hands as the pink on her cheeks began to deepen.

"A friend who catches me almost every time I fall, who doesn't laugh at me when I trip or when I drop things all the time around him."

Her eyes peeked up at him again, shining and freckled with starlight.

"Who helps me pick them up instead."

Her hand reached for his, sending his pulse haywire as it pulled him a little from the enchanting atmosphere her gentle words were weaving around them, and she moved closer, resting her head upon his shoulder and looking at him across the minute distance, eyes bluer than he could conceive and her face pink and silver and her lashes like fine strands of ebony.

"I can't believe that all this time I didn't see it." she breathed, each word pearled and precious to Cat's ears, "That you were there for me all the time, in the suit and out of it."

Cat was sure his chest were about to lose its occupant, its beat was so erratic. He was flushed from head to toe in something warm and safe, something lovely. He would journey to Hell and back to always feel the way she made him feel.

"You're my Princess." he told her softly, watching every movement in her eyes, feeling the warmth of her hand as her fingers curled comfortably around his own. "Every knight needs a Lady to fight for."

Marinette giggled, a different sound from the usual unrestrained glee he loved so much to hear. This one was precious, only for him, and he could hear her fondness in the sound. Her eyes seemed to glow as she smiled at him again.

"And every Lady should have a knight so dashing and noble and loyal as you, Adrien."

His smile was wide and bright as he heard her, his heart singing because finally she knew, finally they had found each other.

"I knew you'd get it." he told her, the pride in his voice straining at the quiet he had tried to place upon it, wanting to shout from the rooftops so that all of Paris could know his joy at being discovered by her, his partner.

His love. His LadyBug, His Bugaboo. His friend.

Mari.

She flashed a wide and joyous grin, tipping her head to one side to treat him to a bold and wonderful look.

"I always believed that if the time ever came, I wouldn't want to know. Once I'd gotten over the fear that you knew, I was okay. But… But when you said see you at school… I realised I wanted it more than anything else."

She reached up her free hand to place her palm against his cheek, her expression soft and adoring. And then she giggled.

"You mouthed Milady at me and I didn't catch on! And I was almost sure you nearly punned when you gave me my pencil back. And you offered to help and you knew just how to help and I- Adrien, when I worked it out I couldn't believe it."

He chuckled, reaching up, half-nervous, to run a hand through his hair, rub the back of his neck.

"Plagg explained the magic to me." he told her with a shy grin. "I couldn't believe it either, because when I look at you now all I can see is how much like LadyBug you look, hear how much you sound like her and it makes me feel so stupid for not putting it together right away."

Marinette laughed.

"Yeah, Tikki told me too. She explained about the glamour and how I wouldn't be able to work it out, no matter what I did or how hard I tried, until you gave the magic permission for me to know by doing just what you did." Her eyes shone. "Giving me clues and trying so hard to help me without telling me."

"Plagg said they all do, eventually." he replied, his hand slipping from his neck to catch the one against his face, curl his fingers around hers. "He said he's never met a Cat Noir who didn't want to know, who didn't want to leave clues for their LadyBug."

Marinette's grin only widened.

"Curiosity and the Cat. Why am I not surprised?"

His laugh made her giggle, and the two sounds merged as they floated up into the Parisian air, travelled over the rooftops.

"Maybe they all craved to know the clawsome wonder of their partner without the threat of battle."

Marinette rolled her eyes, his smile taking on that edge that he had labelled as LadyBug in his head. It made him nervous, made his Cat Noir side rise to the surface to meet the challenge, made his veins buzz, his senses awaken. She leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"Purrhaps they hoped for what every gallant knight seeks from their Lady."

"What's that?" he managed to breathe around the anticipation hitching in his throat.

Marinette smiled shyly before her face turned until her lips were so close to his that he could feel the heat from them. The sight of her hooded eyes, of her gaze trailing to his mouth made him weak and a pleasant sort of panicky inside.

"Her favour." she whispered, her eyes meeting his once more, betraying the uncertainty she was feeling.

And somehow that won over the panic enough to allow him to reach for her too, to take hold of her chin with careful fingers and tip her face just so before he moved in, breathing a promise to her before pressing his lips to hers.

"You'll always be the Lady I fight for."