Chapter Twenty Five – Unmasked

They eventually fall asleep just after midnight, stomach's full of treats and the menu screen for How to Train Your Dragon playing on repeat in the background until someone – Tikki – turns it off. You'd think that sleeping on the floor would be uncomfortable, but Marinette really did put pretty much every blanket they own on the floor, so they can barely feel the hardness of the wooden planks.

Having thought ahead, Plagg set an alarm on Adrien's phone for six o'clock so he could sneak home before anyone knows he left. When it gets to six fifteen, however, and his phone is yet to go off, Plagg starts to get worried. And confused.

"Maybe his phone ran out of power?" Tikki says staring down at the kids. The kids who are curled up together on the floor, facing each other, still fast asleep. Like, dead to the world asleep.

"Nope." Plagg says, popping the 'P'. He turns it on for demonstration.

"Maybe you forgot to save the alarm?"

Plagg enters the password into the phone and goes into the clock app. "I did save it! See, it's right–oh."

"What?"

"I set the alarm for six o'clock PM, not AM."

". . . You're an idiot." Plagg glares at her. "We should wake them up then."

"Or we could just let them sleep." Plagg shrugs, gazing down at the kiddos fondly. "They were up late."

"They have school."

"They wanted to celebrate."

"They could've waited until Friday."

"They–"

They both duck into hiding when a groan comes from the floor. Marinette stretches in her sleep, almost rolling onto her back before settling on her side again. She blinks her eyes open, letting them adjust to the little light shining through the fort. She blinks in confusion at where she is and who she's sleeping next to, before it all comes flooding back to her and she smiles. She stares sleepily at the sleeping form next to her, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath, the part of his lips, his long eyelashes against his cheeks. She lays there, not thinking, just soaking up the almost domestic feeling of waking up next to someone you love and trust.

Adrien's mind drifts into consciousness, and without opening his eyes he is aware that someone is staring at him, but it is far from unsettling. In fact, it's rather quite comfortable. His throat is dry and his stomach feels queasy from all the treats he and Marinette devoured the night before, and he dimly remembers falling asleep in the middle of the movie and waking up in darkness, only to roll over and go back to sleep again, but he's happy. Happier than he's been in a long time.

He listens to the soft, even breaths beside him and he smiles slightly, wondering if she's still asleep. Perhaps he'll be able to study her a little better, count her freckles maybe, before she blinks those beautiful, big, blue eyes open to gaze up at him, give him her Marinette smile, maybe even pull him to her and–

He forces those thoughts away and opens his eyes, instantly getting caught up in Marinette's gaze, staring right at him, he smiles sleepily, before frowning when she doesn't return it, just continuing to stare at him in shock.

"Mari?"

"A–Adrien?"

The word is barely a whisper, but he still hears it leave her, and it's enough for full on panic to set in. Instead of fleeing like he feels like doing and he knows he should do, he finds himself frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but stare into those bluebell eyes.

It's as if she's always known, but she has no idea how. It hadn't even registered to her that the mask she made him was no longer on his face, but instead on the pillow above his head, as if he'd take it off in his sleep. She had been staring at him, studying him, watching him, for the past ten minutes and not once did it occur to her that she was staring at her partner, at Cat Noir, unmasked, her classmate, Adrien.

She's surprised yet she isn't. She never wondered who Cat Noir was, at least she never let herself think that she wondered who he was. Those were dangerous thoughts that she shouldn't have, because the only thing stopping them from revealing themselves to each other too soon was Master Fu and herself. If Cat found out she wanted to know his identity, he'd drop his mask right away without a second thought, and she couldn't let him do that, so she couldn't wonder, couldn't think, couldn't suspect.

Her head may not have known, but her heart apparently always did.

"U–Uh . . ." Adrien stammers, mouth hanging open unattractively. He's genuinely surprised that he's still managing to breathe, but he's lost control of all his other functions.

"Hi." Marinette says, as if this is a completely normal occurrence.

"Hi." He continues to stare at her.

Her eyes flick away from his briefly before settling back on his eyes. "You're Cat Noir, then." She almost slaps herself. What kind of question is that?

"You can't tell anyone!" Adrien suddenly bursts, sitting up and pulling her up with him. He grips her shoulders, staring at her intently with wide eyes to drive the importance of this matter into her brain. "Oh my God, Ladybug is going to kill me!" He lets her go and drops his head into his hands, starting to curl in on himself.

"No, she won't."

"Yes, she will!"

"She won't."

"She will!"

"She won't." A high–pitched voice says and Adrien looks up only to come face to face with a red . . . thing.

"A–" He starts to scream, but then Plagg's in front of him and holding his mouth shut.

"Calm down, kid." He scolds, releasing him once he's sure Adrien's initial response of screaming is gone. "This is Tikki."

"I'm Tikki." The red thing says, beaming and holding her paw out to him, as if offering a hand shake. He gingerly holds his hand out and she grasps his finger, moving it up and down in a handshake, before releasing him. She giggles and darts over to Marinette, nuzzling into her cheek. "I take it you know my holder."

"H–Holder?"

"Ladybug." Plagg says.

"Marinette." Tikki says, for the first time without bubbles escaping her mouth. She and Plagg share a smile.

"Your princess." Marinette says, glancing at him shyly through her eyelashes, smiling nervously.

"Princess." He repeats dumbly and she nods shyly.

"I–I was going to tell you." She says, tucking her hair behind her ear before tugging on a strand nervously. "Well, I wasn't going to tell you. Ladybug was. At some point. When the time was right. But I was going to tell you and I never meant to lie to you and I hope you're not mad or don't think that our time together has just been some kind of big scheme and I didn't know you were A–Adrien and I never really thought about who you were under the mask and I wasn't lying when I said I love you and I understand if you're disappointed that I'm her, I mean me, I mean Ladybug, who is me, but also not, because she's, like, a thousand times better than–"

"I love you too." Adrien cuts off her ramble and she freezes, arms still raised from where she was flailing them around.

She slowly meets his gaze with wide, scared, hopeful eyes. "You do?"

"Yes." He says without hesitation. "I have for a while now."

"You love me?"

"Yes."

"Me–me. Not Ladybug–me?"

"I love you, whether you're wearing a mask or not." He smiles at her softly, taking her hands in both of his. She watches, dazed, as he raises them to his lips and presses soft kisses to the back of them, one on each.

She opens and closes her mouth, gaping at him, before she frowns and tilts her head, studying him. "Are you sure?"

He giggles and nods. "I'm sure."

"Positive?" She leans a little closer to him, smiling softly.

"Yes." He leans closer to her as well, and they're breaths intermingle between them. He searches her eyes, decrypting her emotions, and finds that along with all the love and joy and overall Marinette–ness, there's also fear and uncertainty. "Do you need me to prove it to you?" He whispers, glancing down at her lips pointedly.

She bites her lip and glances away, leaning back form him slightly. "What about Kagami?"

Adrien blinks, before he leans back as well. Right. Kagami. That mess still exists. "We broke up."

She frowns, concerned, and gives his hand a squeeze. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He huffs out a breath of air, letting go of one of her hands to scratch the back of his neck. "To be honest? It's been . . . it's been a couple of crazy days." He smiles shyly and she rolls her eyes.

"You could say that again."

"And on top of, well, everything, there was never the right time and I was still trying to figure my own feelings out and if this didn't happen I know I would've asked you out eventually, and I would've really, really hoped you would've said yes but I also didn't want to rush into anything with you because you're . . . you're . . . you're just, incredible, and amazing and so . . ."

"Ladybug?" She guesses, feeling a knot in the pit of her stomach. Of course he'd like her because she's Ladybug, the perfect girl who's so intelligent and beautiful and not clumsy and

"So Marinette." Adrien corrects, lacing their fingers together. Her cheeks flush and she beams at him, unable to hide her joy at the situation. He likes her for her! Not a mask, not an image. Her!

"Really?"

"Yes." He leans towards her again and she finds herself doing the same, but she forces herself to stop.

"D–Does Kagami . . ."

He nods. "Yeah." He tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear and lets his fingers linger on her cheek, stroking her soft skin lovingly. She leans into his hand, smiling at him adoringly. "She told me if I hurt you, she'll kill me."

Marinette giggles, shaking her head lightly so as not to jostle where his hand is now cupping her cheek. "That doesn't surprise me."

"No." He strokes his thumb across her cheekbone, taking in her freckles, her eyes, her. "She'd be able to do so easily."

She snorts. "I don't know about that. Kagami isn't aware that when you fight Cat Noir, you also have to fight Ladybug."

"You and me," He starts, holding his hand out to her in a fist.

"Against the world." She finishes, bumping her fist against his.

"Pound it!"

. . .

Adrien waits on the school steps, staring anxiously across the street at the bakery. It's only been about two hours since he had to transform and rush back to beat Nathalie to his room at six–thirty, but it feels like an eternity. An eternity without his lady, his princess, his Marinette.

"How could I be so stupid not to see it?" He says quietly, knowing there's only one pair of ears that will hear.

"Part of it was Miraculous magic, so you wouldn't find each other out." Plagg answers, before biting into his wedge of cheese. "Honestly, I am so glad you've figured it out."

"Really?" Adrien stares down at his kwami in shock.

"Of course." Plagg swallows his mouthful and grins. "Now I get to have all the cheese puffs I want."

Adrien groans, rubbing his eyes. "Why do I bother?"

"Because you love him?"

He tears his hand away from his eyes and beams at Marinette. He's almost disappointed to see that she's still not wearing her usual outfit, but when the wind blows and he shivers, he's glad that she'll at least be a bit warmer in the jumper and jeans she's wearing.

"Stockholm syndrome." He says, and she laughs, slapping his arm lightly.

"Dork."

"Your dork." He purrs, stepping closer to her. He wraps his arms around her waist and tilts his head, leaning down to bush their noses together.

"Yeah," She murmurs, lifting her chin up higher and aligning her lips directly under his. "You're my dork, my Chaton."

"You're superhero Godcat?" He questions, raising an eyebrow playfully.

She shrugs, but doesn't deny it. "Maybe, but I prefer my kitty." She gives him one last smile before leaning in.

When her lips brush against his in a kiss far more innocent and less desperate and passionate then the one they shared before he had to scamper off that morning, the whole world around them dims until it's just the two of them. Together. Adrien and Marinette. Ladybug and Cat Noir.

You and me against the world, milady.

Always, chaton.