Woohoo! They finally confessed and are together now, right! Right? Why would I ask that question?
Well, I guess we'll just have to read to find out!
I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.
"This is embarrassing and unnecessary," Marinette muttered, straightening Adrien's already perfectly straight tie for the fifth time
He caught her hands in his, pausing her fussing. "It can't be helped, you broke the internet after all."
"Excuse you, Mr. Jump-In-Front-Of-Akuma-Bombs, you are just as much to blame for our current situation as I am."
"But I didn't sweep teen heartthrob Adrien Agreste off his feet and waltz him out of the room like a blushing bride," Adrien teased.
"How did Alya even find enough footage of that event to make that video?"
Adrien shrugged. "A lot of people left their cameras behind when they took off running, the equipment was too heavy."
She groaned and almost dropped her head onto his shoulder, but remember last minute that he was wearing a dark suit and she was wearing makeup. That would only end badly for them both. Instead, she turned away from her temptation, pulling her hands out of his, as she began to pace the waiting area they were in while the mayor talked them up to a crowd of reporters.
"Civilian heroes. What does that even mean?"
"It means we are civilians and we acted heroically," Adrien said. She glanced over and could tell he was trying not to laugh at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.
"But lots of other people have done stuff way more impressive than either of us and they didn't get awards."
"Yes, but they didn't break the internet."
"That's not fair!" Marinette exclaimed.
Adrien raised his arms over his head in a stretch. "It's not. This isn't fairness, it's politics. Mayor Bourgeois is approaching reelection soon as he's using us to boost his ratings."
She raised an eye brow at him. "So you understand the finer nuances of politics, but can't tell that a girl stuttering means she likes you, not hates you?"
Adrien blushed. "My sample pool of 'real girls' for most of my childhood was Chloe. Subtle wasn't a forte of hers."
Marinette rolled her eyes at the understatement. "No, I suppose it was not. Ugh! I just feel so used now!"
He came over to give her a hug, taking care to mind her makeup-ed face. "If it matters, I think you're a real hero."
She smiled and returned the hug. "Thanks."
The Mayor's assistant stepped into the room and motioned them over. "We're almost ready for you."
They both approached the door to hear the end of the speech.
"- and so, to celebrate their great acts of heroism and keeping calm under pressure, I would like to bring out Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste to formally thank both of these civilian heroes on behalf of Paris."
The secretary motioned them forward and they stepped out in front of the crowd of reporters, cameras flashing to catch their every movement and facial expression. Adrien's model smile was there in full swing and Marinette did her best to imitate it. She was sure it looked more like someone had shoved a lemon wedge in her mouth. They shook hands with the Mayor and then he ushered them up to the podium. Marinette stood just behind Adrien, figuring he was the better trained for these situations out of the two
"We are honored to receive this award, but both feel like we only did what any other upstanding Parisian would do in the same situation. After all, it was the many wonderful examples of everyday heroism that inspired us to act."
The mayor stepped up, beaming down at the two of them. "Well put, Adrien my boy, are there any questions from the audience?"
The mayor pointed to one reporter with a raised hand who shouted. "Just what is your relationship with Ms. Dupain Cheng?"
The two glanced between each other. They actually hadn't discussed that in the seek since both of them had confessed. Adrien's father had been furious about his recklessness and grounded the boy and neither of them could get a moment alone with each other at school. The shared look only lasted for a moment before he leaned into the mic. "As has already been discussed in previous conversations, Marinette is just a friend."
That stung. She couldn't even focus on the rest of the questions as she focused on not crying at that statement. They were ushered off the stage and back into the same room for the mayor to give his closing remarks.
Once they were alone, Adrien turned to her. "Are you okay?"
She refused to look at him and nodded to the floor.
"Come on, Mari, that's clearly a lie," Adrien said, stepping closer to try and see her face.
"I'm fine, friend," she said the last word with a bit of venom on it and he suddenly understood why she was upset.
He took her shoulders and turned her to face him, waiting until she looked up at him. "Okay, first off, after everything my father did to get the paparazzi to drop it, I wasn't about to undo everything by saying anything else. More importantly, we haven't exactly had a chance to talk and the first person I'd like to say you're my girlfriend to is you, not a group of strangers."
Her mouth dropped open in an "O" and she was pretty sure her heart was about to spontaneously combust. Adrien was pink faced, but still maintaining a determined eye contact.
She cleared her throat to collect her thoughts. "So am I your girlfriend then?"
His grip on her shoulders tightened. "I'm not sure you want to be."
She raised an eyebrow. "I thought I made it pretty clear that I was definitely interested."
He sighed and let his arms fall back to his sides. "I just need to be completely honest with you about something first."
It was really hard to stop her brain from jumping to a million conclusions about what could be wrong with herself and how he was going to say it wasn't going to work out. She took a minute to reign her thoughts in before eyeing him with a guarded expression. "And what is it that you need to tell me?"
"I like you, Marinette. I really, really do. I want that to be perfectly clear, but there's this other girl. She's made it very clear that she doesn't like me in that way and I'm trying to get over her, but I just can't seem to turn my feelings off. I want to date you, but it doesn't seem fair when I also still have feelings for this other person." Adrien's words got faster and faster as he spoke, like he was trying to spill it all out before he rejected him.
Marinette stood there processing what he'd said. Huh, maybe they were more alike than she'd thought. Tikki had already gone through a similar conversation with her about her feelings for Adrien and Chat Noir and even Luka. She actually knew how to handle this one. "Well that's a relief." The words spilled out without her meaning to say them, but she meant it so she didn't try to take it back.
Adrien's face scrunched up in puzzlement. "I just admitted to liking another girl and you're relived over that?"
She held up a finger. "Let me clarify. I'm relieved that that's the problem. Also, I'm relieved that you can't just turn your emotions off. While it does mean that you still like this other person, it also means that I don't have to live in fear of you just one day turning off your feelings for me."
Adrien stared at her with a cautious hope. "So you're okay with all this?"
She bit her lip. "I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm a little hurt that I'm not the only one in your heart, but I also would be a hypocrite to demand that of you. I understand."
He blinked. "Wait, you like someone else too?"
She nodded, reaching down to her hip to touch her bag where Tikki lay. "A wise old woman I know said something to me- She told me that emotions are very important and we should pay attention to them, but remember that we can't always control them. What we can control is what we do with our emotions. In the end, it's our actions that are the deciding factor, so neither of us can control if we might have feelings for other people, but what we can control is if we chose to act on them."
Adrien's face was thoughtful as he contemplated what she'd said. "I'd like to meet this lady one day, she sounds very wise."
Crap. "Oh, um, she's very shy around strangers and can be kind of hard to get ahold of. I mean, we can try, but I'm not sure how it'll work out."
"Okay, but what about the original point of this discussion?"
She blinked, thrown off and trying to remember what they were talking about before her short panic attack. "Um, what?"
He reached out and gently grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers. "Marinette, will you be my girlfriend?"
She used their joined hands to pull him closer, chests almost touching. She felt giddy, it was almost whiplash inducing compared to the upset and depression she'd felt just minutes before when she thought he was rejecting her. This was worth it. Adrien was worth any trouble. "Yes."
They leaned towards each other, lips barely brushing as they felt their breaths mingle-
Adrien's phone went off and they jumped apart, red faced.
He pulled it out and answered. "This is Adrien."
Marinette couldn't make out what the other person was saying, but Adrien nodded.
"Yes, sir."
His face paled and he glanced over at Marinette.
"I'll have to ask her and then I'm sure she'll have to talk to her parents. May I call you back?"
Adrien nodded once more.
"Very well. I'll call Nathalie."
He hung up and turned to her apologetically. "Are you really sure you want to be my girlfriend?"
"I literally just said yes."
"Okay, my father wants you to come to dinner tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" she squeaked.
"Yup. Sure you still want to be part of this?"
"If by 'this' you mean involved in your life, then yes. Very much so." She stepped up and wrapped her arms around him in a hug, curling into him to rest her head on his chest. "We're a team now, got it?"
His arms came to wrap around her as well. "You got it, princess. This knight in shining armor is here for you."
That stirred something in Marinette, giving her a sense of déjà vu. Why did that feel so familiar?
Okay, now they are together. No tricks this time, I promise. Whew! This was a long one! Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you tomorrow.
Any guesses as to what's going to happen at the dinner? (I'm serious, it's still in the works and I'm trying to finish it early)
I'll try to post early tomorrow because I'm going to go see End Game with some friends and that'll probably take 5 hours of my day, so you'll either get it really early or really late. Wish me luck with getting it done on time!