Chapter 29: Memories

"Kitty…Adrien…"

Marinette dreamily mumbled in her sleep rolling over.

"Identities…must protect…" Her voice grew frantic.

"No…no…t-that can't happen…not again…stop…please!"

"Marinette!" She heard Tikki's voice in her ear. "Are you okay?"

Marinette deeply exhaled and opened her eyes looking around frenetically.

"Where's Adrien?"

"Kiddo's downstairs. Will be back soon." Plagg said from the couch.

Marinette nodded as she sighed and got off the bed.

"Are you okay, Marinette?"

"I'm fine…" She tried giving Tikki a smile, "I'm just…confused."

She sat down on the chair and looked forward in contemplation. There identities were revealed now but…what if…things wouldn't always go smoothly. What if they were at more risk than before? How would she stop herself from making the same mistakes all over again?

I chose you both for a reason.

You're the best miraculous holder I have ever met, Ladybug.

You hold all the keys.

The real gift of life is life itself.

Master Fu had parted ways with them, and it wasn't fair. Life was never fair. A man needed to lose all his memories to support the greater good. Just when she'd thought things were going alright, she'd be back to square one. Endings were never completely happy in life. There would always be something to lose…

"Good to see you awake, Milady." Adrien's voice came from behind her; she spun her chair around to look at him. "Do you feel better?"

"I'm…feeling better…" She faked a smile at him.

"Hmm…" He perched himself on the floor in front of her, "You sounded hesitant…Is there something on your mind?"

"Uh…" Marinette paused. Was talking about things that were already done worth it?

"Please, Marinette." Adrien pleadingly looked at her placing his hand on hers. "You need to tell me how you're feeling."

"Adrien…" Marinette painfully looks into his eyes. "It's not that easy. I'm confused myself. I don't think I know what I'm feeling…"

"Talking about feelings is never easy." Adrien replied, "Especially the ones that are so close to your heart. It's difficult to share them to anyone else…"

Marinette gasped as she realised what he was talking about.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Talk about your feelings."

"I…" He gave her a soft and shy smile. "It's easy when you're with someone you trust."

He squeezed both her hands as her heart fluttered millions of symphonies at his words. She bit her lip and returned his shy smile.

Just then as if it had come to ruin the moment, a thrill of fear echoed down her spine as she released his hands.

"Marinette." Adrien asked. "What's wrong?"

Marinette hugged herself as painful thoughts and memories throbbed in her head.

"I'm s-scared and confused, Adrien."

"Why?"

"Remember when Miracle Queen happened…" Marinette sighed. That wasn't the only thing that happened…

"Yeah. I do. I remember." He assured her. "That was in the past. Despite what happened, we can still make things work, we have to remember what's important and look into the future."

"I know we will, Adrien. I know…" Marinette supressed a smile at him, "But things could go wrong…" Too wrong. "I feel like if we aren't careful then we could end up losing more than we expected to lose…with this identity reveal."

"Losing more?" Adrien looked at her confusedly. "Why do I feel that there is more to what you're saying?"

Marinette rose to her feet as stepped forward to the chaise so that her back was facing him. There was no way she was going to tell him about Cat Blanc.

"If we aren't careful enough, we could end up losing all we've worked for. And more than that." Marinette replied. "We're superheroes, Adrien. The fate of Paris rests on our shoulders. Even a single clumsy action could have huge consequences. T-trust m-me…I've been there." More than once.

"Marinette." She heard Adrien's sigh from behind her. "I understand that you're still stuck on that one mistake. That doesn't define who you are."

Marinette's eyes widened as she turned around to face Adrien who was standing in front of her.

"That one mistake lead to so much damage! Chloe got akumatized, Hawk Moth had the Miracle Box, He still has the deciphered version of the grimoire, He knows the identities of all our temporary heroes and worst of all…Master Fu is gone…" Marinette shrieked as all the memories of the battle flashed in her head; her hands travelled to mask her face. Why? Why? Why had she let that happen? Why had she been a bad superhero?

"Hey." Adrien said in his calm voice, reaching to hold her hands. "I understand. A lot happened. But that doesn't mean we should lose hope. We're still superheroes of Paris. Mistakes only help people rise stronger and smarter. You know that."

"I do…" Marinette's voice trailed off, "But how do you know that things won't go wrong again?"

"I'll admit it. I don't." Marinette trailed her eyes onto him. "But I do know that worrying about the future over past events isn't worth it. The only useful thing we can do is to stay hopeful. Plus, I believe that you and me can get through it."

"Let me guess. You and me against the world?" Marinette offered him a slight smile.

"Always. We're the perfect team! There's you with the amazing plans and the adorable dominant role." Adrien chirped as Marinette blushed. "And then there's me: funny and ultra-charming as always."

"You can dismiss the funny part."

"Hey! You've laughed at a lot of my jokes before. Don't say that!" Adrien pouted as Marinette chuckled.

"Still not convinced…you do make a charming supportive role though." Marinette subconsciously leaned in.

"Ha! I knew you thought I was charming!" Adrien leaned forward and batted his lashes at her flirtatiously as she rolled her eyes. She didn't bop him away on his nose like she usually did though.

"Do you feel better at least now?" Adrien asked.

"Yes…but I still don't think I'm that confident with the fact that I won't mess up."

"Unfortunately, that's in your personality. Even if I started a campaign called 'Please love yourself, milady' I'm sure you still wouldn't be convinced." Adrien shrugged as Marinette chuckled and nodded. "But, if it makes you feel any better, I just want you to know that…I still love you just the way you are."

"I l- "Marinette then widened her eyes and leaned away as she processed what he had said. "Y-you still l-love me?"

"I've always loved you, Marinette." Adrien confessed. "I loved you as Ladybug. I always felt like you were more than a friend to me as Marinette. I'll admit that I was confused for a bit and I dated Kagami and all but that was another attempt to get over you as Ladybug. When I got closer to you as Marinette, I felt things that I've never felt before with you. I didn't realize them for a long time but when I did…I knew it was true. Then the whole reveal happened, and it just miraculously clicked into my brain that I was in love with the same person this entire time. So, yes, I still love you."

"I-Adrien…" Marinette painfully looked away. Our love did this to the world, milady. "I can't be in love with you."

"I know." She heard his dejected sigh and it hurt. She didn't want to do this. "There's still the other boy. I know that. It's been 2 weeks already; I don't know if you acted on our bet and confessed to him yet but…I'm more confused and a bit jealous actually of who this boy is. Who is he?"

"It's…uh" She hesitated. Should she tell him? "I fell in love with this boy when he gave me his umbrella in the rain."

Marinette looked into his eyes to his reaction.

"That's vague. How many boys have given you umbrellas on rainy days?"

Come on. This wasn't a good time to be oblivious, Adrien.

"Only one."

"One?" Adrien crinkled his brow. Don't be oblivious. His eyes finally widened as his mouth flung agape. "Oh."

"Yeah…Oh." She mimicked him as if annoyed.

"I fell in love with this oblivious boy in the rain. I thought he was just a mean rich bully like his other friend because of a huge misunderstanding with gum. However, later on that day…" Her tone changed to a softer pace. "The boy felt the need to be kind and apologise. He also thought it was necessary to point out how he'd never had friends before. There was no reason why this boy should be kind to me after I falsely accused him. Yet, he was kind enough and offered his umbrella to the girl who was impulsive and judgemental of him at first. I realised that…he had a rich heart…and…with that heart…he captured another heart that day."

Marinette's cheeks heated up as he turned to look at him and shyly grab a hold of his hand.

"My heart was always yours, Adrien."

Strange swirls of magical electricity was caught in the atmosphere. It felt like they were on a completely different dimension of their own, their connection holding them together as many more unspoken words flew across their minds as they stared into each other's minds.

Adrien was making a cute shocked expression as he tilted his head and smiled at her.

"I never thought this day would ever come." His voice was dreamy as she reciprocated his smile and looked at him from beneath her lashes.

"Don't get your hopes high." Marinette shook her head. "We can't be together yet."

"Why?"

"It's too dangerous. We're Ladybug and Cat Noir. Dating could cost us a lot." You're still never going to find out about Cat Blanc.

"Understandable. Being a responsible superhero is important." Adrien nodded. "But that doesn't mean we'll never be a couple, right?"

"As long as you stay in love with me."

"I'll love you today, tomorrow, forever." Adrien leaned in closer. "Will you?"

"I'll just dismiss the fact that you quoted a GIF." Marinette said with a smile. Typical Adrien. "Instead, I'll say that…I'll love you to the ends of the earth."

Adrien gasped and smiled.

"Now…you quoted me."

"Stealing quotes from you is fun."

"I loved it."

Marinette and Adrien's smiles widened as they continued to stare at each other's faces.

They probably shouldn't have done it. They really shouldn't have done it. But they did not regret it.

In sync, they leaned in, so their lips clashed against each other. Soft strokes. Soft brushes. A rising feeling of shivers took over their body. It felt good though. It felt like a new sense of magic.

The warmth of his lips were brushing against hers and she didn't regret any moment of it. Their connection felt so strong at that moment; it felt like a whole new type of magic that they could never be able to share with someone else. In that moment, they knew they were made for each other.

When they parted, their cheeks were flushed, and their breaths were heavy. Not to mention, they were smiling like idiots.

"We shouldn't have that!"

"Hey! Are you saying it was bad?"

"Nope." Marinette grinned at him. "It was wonderful."

"I know…" He dreamily sighed. "It was an out-of-body experience. What miracle did you do to those few moments in my life?"

"I don't know." She returned his dreamy sigh. "Though, we can't do that for some time now. We have to be responsible superheroes."

"Right. Responsibility first as sad as it is." Adrien shook his head but then his face lighted up with an idea…

"What?"

"I just realised…you lost the bet…it's been more than 2 weeks when you confessed!"

"Oh no…What do you have in mind?" She hopes it wasn't extreme punning or cat songs that was coming her way.

"Initially, I was planning to make you listen to me punning from my pun lists." Pun lists. He has pun lists? "However, I'm planning to be nice. And I'm actually excited for what I've got planned."

"What have you got planned?"

"You'll see." He responded with a wink.

I'm so sorry for the hiatus. I was busy.

This chapter has to be the longest!

Well…a lot was going on!

Last chapter coming soon…

Also, who's POV do you like better? Marinette or Adrien?