A/N: Well here we go. The last chapter. I have done a ton of editing of the past chapters. It was...bad. Like plot holes and continuity lacking bad. But I think I got all those. I fixed some of the grammar too. Fixed all the "you're" and "your" mistake's pointing out to me. I had to do search and find to make sure I spotted each one and made sure I used the proper one. So here's hoping if anyone decides to reread from the beginning it's a much smoother read. And for anyone who joined in on the read this last post, I'm glad you're getting to read the better version.
As always, I hope you enjoy. So let's go.
Please Keep My Secret
Chapter 11
Marinette only had two things on her mind at this point in time. Retrieving Tikki and defeating this Akuma that was set on killing her. There was no time to focus on Chat Noir, even though he was carrying her in his arms bridal style across the roofs of Paris. Even though they were fleeing from danger and she was giving him directions, he kept stealing glances at her. From the corner of her eye she could see what he was doing, and it was more than she could take at the moment.
"Could you please stop staring at me like that," Marinette pleaded. "I'm feeling really self-conscious."
Chat Noir chuckled. "Sorry. It's hard not to when I see you in front of me. I mean...I fell for you twice!"
Marinette's face went red and her cheeks burned when he said that. Though she hoped he didn't notice. It was freezing out and she had been outside in just a sweater, pants and socks. The cold was nipping at her toes and her face was burning from the wind.
"I'm freezing," she said. Her head ended up resting in the nape of his neck. He was so warm and she feared she'd freeze to death if she didn't get warmed up soon. The flirty cat didn't seem to mind her snuggling up in his arms, but he did take her comment seriously.
"Marinette, are we close?" he asked, his voice was serious as he searched for the right residence. They had just crossed the seine and he knew they had to be close.
Marinette reached her hand out and pointed to a street just ahead. "The cream coloured building. Knock on the door on the side of the building."
Adrien followed her instructions and lead the way and landed on the side of the building like she said. "This one?"
"Yes," she said. Adrien carefully knocked on the door, and it opened quickly. The little old man he had met a few months earlier during the Syren attack, and who originally gave him his miraculous.
"Come inside," he said, shifting to give them room to move inside. Adrien carried her inside and waited for direction from the master. The guardian motioned for Adrien to follow. And when he did, he was guided to a living room. He sat down, and Adrien followed suit, bringing Marinette with him so she was now sitting in his lap. She pushed off of him and reached out for Tikki when she noticed the Kwami by an old record player. Floating beside her was another Kwami, this one looked like a little turtle.
'That must be the Kwami, Carapace uses,' he thought.
When Tikki reached Marinette she skipped past her open hand and latched onto Marinette near her collarbone.
"I was so worried," Tikki cried.
"I'm alright, Tikki," Marinette assured. "Chat Noir kept me safe."
"B-but your neck?" Tikki pointed to the bruises that were forming on her neck from the Akuma attack earlier.
"This is nothing," Marinette continued to assure. "I promise."
Adrien made a face. "Well...I wouldn't say it was nothing, you did lose consciousness."
"You what?!" Tikki, the turtle Kwami and Master Fu said in unison.
Marinette let out a defeated groan and pulled her hoody up to hide her face. Adrien placed a hand on her head and pulled it back, which made her look back at him. His expression was soft. "They're just worried."
"I know," Marinette said. Tikki caught her attention, who was still looking up at her with her worried eyes. "The attack caught us off guard, and after Chat Noir took me away to hide me, I was trying to get back to you Tikki and the Akuma found me."
"I was so scared I was going to lose you," Tikki said. "Don't scare me like that again."
Marinette agreed, and looked over to Master Fu. "As you may have figured out Master, I told Adrien who I am."
"Does that mean we have to give up our miraculous?" Adrien asked the master.
Master Fu gave them a smile. "There is no need for that. It is advisable that no one knows each other's identities, but in some circumstances, it cannot be helped. Marinette told me this weekend what happened and I told her she should tell you when she was ready. That it would bring comfort to you."
Marinette's cheek were red again, and the warm room did nothing to hide it. She was considerably warmer now, but now her face was burning. His hand moved, and was placed at the small of her back, and he lightly gripped her, though his eyes never left Master Fu's. "I'm glad for that. I always wanted to know who My Lady was, but I never thought I'd actually ever find out. And I don't want to stop being Chat Noir, or lose her."
Master Fu chuckled. "You two really were made for each other."
The two had very different reactions. Marinette thought she might pass out with just how much blood was in her face now. How could one person still be alive with this much blood in her face? Adrien lit up and had the biggest smile on his face, one not seen since they were fighting Timeturner and he thought he might permanently have two Ladybug's. He was absolutely delighted to hear the news.
Master Fu smiled. "It shouldn't come to a surprise. Certain personalities work best with each Miraculous. And the cat and ladybug miraculous are like Ying and Yang's of each other. Creation and Destruction. The best Chat Noir and Ladybug's are usually well matched for each other."
Marinette turned to Tikki. "Why didn't you ever tell me?!"
Tikki gave Marinette a long look. "With how crazy you were over Adrien? You wouldn't have believed me if I told you that you would probably end up with Chat Noir. Besides, how many times did I try to help you confess to Adrien?"
Marinette wanted to ask her if she really knew Adrien was Chat Noir the entire time, but she threw that in the back of her mind. She even ignored Adrien's further delight in hearing she had tried several times to confess to him. Marinette jumped out of his lap, trying to further ignore the fact she just spent fifteen minutes in his lap in front of Master Fu.
"No more chitchat, we need to stop that Akuma," Marinette said. "Tikki, spots on."
With a flash she was transformed, and she could see Chat Noir with a look that could only remind her of herself when a new fashion ad featuring Adrien came out. She had to ignore that for now, but she did offer her hand to her Chat Noir. He took it and she helped him to his feet. "We can talk more about this after."
"Right," he said, turning serious. He turned to Master Fu. "It was nice to see you again Master."
Master Fu nodded and took his tablet. "As always, I'll be watching on the Ladyblog for any news."
Marinette's eyes went wide. "Alya isn't nearby again is she?"
Master Fu quickly read over and looked at the video feed. "She seemed to be a distance away, but the Akuma is near Notre-Dame."
"Let's go," Marinette announced as she burst back out the side door again. Chat Noir was close behind her.
Notre-Dame was close by. Just a few blocks, so it didn't take either long to see Rose Queen, who was shooting her rose's from her hair out into the air, and most exploded in mid-air, but a few fell down around the city and parts of the streets were destroyed. Marinette had no idea what to do, she had seen very little of this Akuma so far, so she turned to Adrien.
"We got roses that explode, and her parasol has lasers, right?" she asked.
"Correct," he replied.
"Did you notice anything about her that might help while you were fighting her?" Marinette asked, hopeful that he noticed something.
"I suspect it's maybe a piece of jewellery," he theorized. "She seems to be based on Marie Antoinette. And she loved her jewellery."
"I can see the comparison," Marinette said, watching Rose Queen raise her parasol and let a beam explode into the air. They had to go now.
"We can only have one Mari-nette in this town," Chat Noir added as a side quip.
Marinette had just about been ready to jump off the building and launch an assault but she turned to her partner. "Really? That's terrible, even by your standards."
He grinned. "I have zero regrets."
She tried to focus again. "Okay, just try to focus. You can make any jokes you want after we have this situation under control. I'm really nervous about this one."
"It's a date then," Chat Noir added, and jumped to the next street, leaving Ladybug to follow behind.
Rose Queen had been scanning the area, and spotted them easily as they approached. She launched her attack and a new row of roses were shot at them. Chat Noir was ready, and with his staff, he hit one like a baseball, and launched it back at the Akuma. Though he was probably unsure that it would work, both were pleasantly surprised it didn't blow up, and actually bounced back, hitting Rose Queen straight on.
"All right!" Chat Noir cheered.
The Akuma fell back, which gave Ladybug the chance to use her yo-yo, spinning it, and throwing it at her, and snatched her parasol, ripping it from her hands. Marinette caught it, and snapped it in half on her thigh. No Akuma, but at least there was one less weapon.
The Akuma recovered. "How dare you!"
"No, how dare you," Marinette called back. "You attacked an innocent girl for no good reason."
"Marinette stole him away from me!" the Akuma cried out. "Adrien would have chosen me if it weren't for that stupid nobody."
Rose Queen launched another round of roses, and the two dodged them. Chat Noir used his staff to hit the villain once again, and Marinette used her yo-yo to form her shield and had one bounce off away from her as she dodged another coming from another direction.
"Sounds like this Adrien probably chose the right girl," Chat Noir mocked at the Akuma as her own rose exploded near her.
The Akuma tried to dodge her own rose, but the force of the explosion caused her to fall to the ground. She glared at Chat Noir. "How dare you!"
"That your catchphrase?" Chat Noir added. "I think I can see why this Adrien probably isn't interested. One track mind."
Rose Queen jumped up to her feet. "Stop it! We had a connection! If I just get rid of her, he'll realize he loves me! Where did you hide her away?!"
Marinette saw a look in Adrien's eyes. It was one she knew every time she realized who was possessed by the Akuma. Adrien just realized who this was, but the look only lasted a minute, before he turned serious once again.
"Listen. Not everyone can be with the one they care about," Chat Noir told her. "Sometimes you just have to accept that someone may not love you the way you love them. This Adrien probably really cares about this Marinette. It doesn't mean you're a bad person, it just means it wasn't meant to be."
"But I like Adrien so much," Rose Queen cried. Her eyes were watering, and black tears were falling down her cheeks. "Why is she so special?"
Chat Noir stepped closer to Rose Queen. Ladybug had her yo-yo at the ready to attack if the Akuma did anything. "Why don't you ask him?"
Rose Queen's eyes went wide. Adrien knew that she hadn't asked him about why he loved Marinette, or even considered why he might like her. She had been too focused on her own flooded feelings of jealousy.
"Rose Queen, do not listen to him. You are perfectly suited to be with the one you love! Get those Miraculous from them, and then no one will be able to stop you from hunting down Marinette or winning Adrien's heart."
Hawkmoth's butterfly symbol appeared over her face, and her face darkened. Ladybug knew something bad was about to happen, and by the looks of it, Adrien had no intentions of backing off. The butterfly disappeared, and Rose Queen snapped her attention back to Chat Noir.
"What do you know about love? Everyone knows how you feel about Ladybug, and yet she denies your affections. You're the last person I should take advice from!" Rose Queen yelled.
Suddenly she shifted and her dress changed form. Ladybug panicked and used her yo-yo, and wrapped it around her partner and pulled him back, pulling him back to safety, landing by her feet. Grabbing his arm, she pulled him to his feet and they watched in horror as her dress shifted, and out of every inch, long musket looking guns pointed in every direction. There was many loud bangs that echoed in the street, smoke and the smell of gunpowder as it exploded. Ladybug, still grabbing Chat Noir jumped into the air with him and tried to direct them around the gunfire.
If she hadn't been transformed she was certain she would be dead now, but as luck would have it, she was. So when they were both hit with the attack, they fell down and hit the ground. While sore and a little bruised up, they were able to recover. Chat Noir was the first one to rise. "Try your lucky charm."
It was all that was said before he charged at Rose Queen again and with his staff, swung at her, knocking her around before she had the chance to attack again. Ladybug jumped to her feet and she raised her yo-yo into the air and called out, "Lucky Charm!"
The power was activated and she caught the item, the object, but she had to stare at it to understand what it was. A photo had landed in her hands, and she glanced at it for only a moment before she heard Adrien told her to watch out, and she noticed another rose coming her way. She used her yo-yo and threw it in the direction of a street lamp, and pulled herself out of the way.
The explosion missed her, but she felt the heat against her back, and she knew she only got out of the way in the last moment. Marinette tried to glance at the photo again, but didn't understand. It was a photo of two smiling kids. Marinette didn't know them. A boy and a girl, facing the camera, smiling proudly, covered in dirt, holding up a frog together. Both children had missing teeth visible, normal for their presumed age. The girl had darker skin, and brown hair, with beautiful brown eyes. The boy had long blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail and had green eyes. He had a similar skin tone as the girl.
"What is it?" Adrien asked, as he attacked Rose Queen again.
"It's a photo," she called. "But I don't know what it's supposed to mean."
Rose Queen propped the muskets in her dress again in all directions, and fired. Marinette was going to jump for cover, but Adrien had reached her, and grabbed her and jumped in behind a car. The car alarm went off, right before it exploded, and Adrien jumped with her again, this time onto a roof. He turned to her.
"Let me see, maybe I know who it is," he stated. Though, Marinette was staring down at the road, where the photo was floating down. Her eyes were wide. She dropped it. How could she just drop her lucky charm? Adrien seemed to notice. "Oh…damn."
The situation only got worse when Rose Queen had moved over to the lucky charm. The Akuma had a devilish look on her face, and reached for the charm. Marinette had to get it back before she destroyed it. Marinette jumped down and raced toward the Akuma to get it back. Adrien calling after her to not risk it, but she had no choice.
Rose Queen picked it up. She was giggling now. "Now, now, looks like you dropped something important." She flipped the photo over and looked at it, ready to mock Ladybug over the photo, but her eyes widened. "…Marco?"
The Akuma froze, and her eyes stared at the photo, and it caused Marinette to freeze for a moment. Her vision focusing on the photo, and then on Rose Queen. Both showed up in her red and black polka-dot vision and she realized that this was it. This was supposed to happen. Ladybug was meant to drop the photo, and Rose Queen was meant to pick it up and see the image.
Rose Queen was crying again, her black tears stained her face again. "How did you know?"
"I didn't, my power manifested it. Who are they?" Marinette explained. "Who are they to you?"
"It's me and Marco," she sobbed. "My best friend before I moved here for my career."
Marinette stepped closer to her. "Do you miss him?" Marinette knew this was true, but she needed to keep the Akuma focused on this.
"Of course I do," the Akuma replied. "He's the first person I ever loved. I didn't want to leave him."
Marinette tried to focus on the Akuma and listen to her, and still tried to take a step forward at a time. "You sound like you still love him."
Rose Queen fell to her knees and pressed the photo to her heart. "He told me he loved me the night before I left, but I rejected him because I thought it would be easier. I pretended that I didn't miss him. I hid all our photos away so I wouldn't have to look at them anymore. And I latched onto the first person who looked like him."
Marinette was less than a meter away now, and knelt down. She could sense Chat Noir's presence not too far behind. She knew he probably was very concerned how close she was to this dangerous Akuma, but she didn't falter. "That was Adrien?"
Rose Queen nodded, and then looked down at the photo again. "Same blonde hair, and same green eyes. Same sweet personality. Adrien looked at Marinette the same way Marco looked at me. It was the same, and I couldn't handle it."
"Rose Queen, don't give up! You can have it all, just get me their Miraculous! Ladybug is right there!" Hawkmoth's voice broke through, his pink butterfly appearing over her face.
This time though, Rose Queen shook her head. "No! No more! Please!" Rose Queen covered her ears and began to sob, unable to take anymore but fought to keep it together. "I don't want this! Stop!"
"You will get me their Miraculous, or I will make you!" Hawkmoth's voice yelled.
Rose Queen's entire body was trembling as Hawkmoth began to try and take control of her and force her to attack. Her pained face turned to Ladybug. "H-Help me."
It was now Chat Noir who joined Ladybug by her side and made eye contact with Rose Queen. "Where is the Akuma?"
"My necklace!" she cried as Hawkmoth forced her to raise to her feet and her dress released its hidden muskets and her rose's prepared to fire.
Adrien was the first to react and grabbed the necklace from around Rose Queen's neck and snapped it off her neck, and with a fluid motion, he threw it hard into the pavement, cracking it, releasing the Akuma. Ladybug leapt to her feet and began to swing her yo-yo and aimed it to catch it. "Time to de-evilize," she called out as she swung it to catch it, releasing it and caught the fleeing butterfly in one swoop. The yo-yo was brought back to its master and then Ladybug pressed the top of her weapon, releasing the now purified Akuma. "Bye, bye little butterfly."
Adrien had recovered the photo from the now paralysed Rose Queen, and with a smile he passed the lucky charm to Marinette. "My Lady, for you."
Marinette smiled and reached out, her fingers brushing against his fingertips as she took the photo. "Thanks Kitten."
She threw the photo into the air and it rose up unnaturally for a photo, but as a magical item, Marinette didn't question it as she called for its power one more time. "Miraculous Ladybug!"
The magical butterflies swirled around the city, starting with the Akuma, freeing Rose Queen, revealing a fashionably dressed girl, standing in the middle of the street in front of Notre-Dame. Chat Noir picked up the necklace that was now repaired and offered it back to Olivia. The teen model smiled at the sight of the necklace and took it back. It was a simple silver heart with a silver chain. It was a common enough piece, but the way Olivia looked at it, one would mistake it for the greatest treasure on this earth.
"Thank you," she said. She offered Chat Noir a smile. "He gave this to me for my birthday last year."
"Take good care of it then," Chat Noir offered the advice.
"And…Chat Noir…can you…tell Marinette, I'm sorry," she asked. "I'm sure she's a lovely person if Adrien chose her…she didn't deserve what I did."
"I will," Chat Noir told Olivia. "I'm sure she'll understand. Can you get home from here?"
"Yes, I can," Olivia replied.
Ladybug's earrings beeped, and caught Chat Noir's attention. "We better go then," Chat Noir said. He gave the girl one last wave, and with a quick motion, he grabbed Ladybug around the waist and with his staff he extended it, bringing them to the roof above. This caught Marinette off guard and she was surprised and held on. When they were on the roof, she expected him to let go, but to her surprise, he put his staff away and lifted her up and brought her up into both arms, carrying her like he did earlier.
"W-what are you doing?" she gasped.
"Well, its freezing out, your power is about to be used up, and I didn't use my cataclysm so I'm not going to de-transform, so I'm going to get you home, so you can show your probably worried parents that you're all right and then we are going to sit down and talk this out."
"Right," Marinette said. "But I could at least run until I de-transform."
Adrien chuckled. "Nah, I'm enjoying this too much."
Her eye went wide as her cheeks burned. He stole a glance at her, and smiled at her. How did she ever not realize they had the same sweet smile? Every time Chat Noir smiled at her now, she saw the kind and gentle Adrien. And every time Adrien smiled at her, she saw her playful partner.
Her transformation wore off, and the chilled air hit her. Marinette's body began to shiver, and she rested her head against his collarbone and tried to steal any warmth she could from his body. Tikki curled up with Marinette, and emitted a red light from her body, giving Marinette as much warmth as possible. "Just hold on, we'll be at your house soon," her small Kwami said.
Her balcony was just a few blocks away. Traveling by roof top in Paris was very quick, and for that, he was thankful. She was shivering, and he worried that she was going to catch hypothermia. It was considerably much colder now, being after midnight and all. He gave her a squeeze as they approached, and with one last leap, Chat Noir gave himself more spring, and landed on her balcony, stopping himself as he slide a little.
Adrien let her stand on her own two feet, and opened the window for her. "Get inside and keep warm. Tell your parents you're safe. I'll wait here."
"Alright. I'll come get you when I'm back and we can sit inside," Marinette stated. She climbed inside, Tikki floating with her, but she took a seat on the bed, while Marinette hurried down to her trap door, calling for her parents. Her parents had been pacing back and forth, the television on in the background, some footage of the Akuma battle played on repeat.
"Mama! Papa!"
Tom and Sabine's eyes shot upwards, their mouths dropping open for just a moment before they broke out into smiles. "Mari!"
Marinette rushed down the stairs, and her parents grabbed her. Their arms were around her, embracing her and hugging her like they thought they had lost her. Which is exactly how they felt. Marinette embraced them back, happy to be with her parents again.
"Marinette whatever happened? And how did you get back?" Sabine asked her daughter.
"The person Akumatized was someone Adrien knew, and on her way after me, Chat Noir followed and he protected me. Hid me while he and Ladybug fought her. They got me and brought me home. I'm safe."
She pulled away from her parents to look at them, smiling. Though it was her mother who noticed the bruises first. "M-Marinette, what happened to your neck?"
Marinette's hands fell onto her throat, and her hands touched the bruises. "Oh…yeah. The Akuma got her hands on me, but Chat Noir stopped her."
"We're so glad you're safe," Tom expressed. "We should consider you staying home again tomorrow, maybe help us out downstairs. We got a few calls for requests for bread from some daily customers. We could try getting some to them at least."
Marinette nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."
"It's awfully late, even if you're not going to school, you should at least go to bed and rest. You've been through a lot," Sabine said.
"Right," Marinette stated. "I should get some sleep. I am exhausted."
In truth, she was, but she knew she had to get through this talk with Adrien. It would be a long one, but she didn't dare put it off again. She had promised him after all. With a wave, Marinette ascended the stairs and entered back into her bedroom. Tikki, who had been sitting on the bed, and now floated up, and looked at her.
"Everything alright with them?" she asked. She breathed a sigh of relief when Marinette gave a nod, and climbed back up the stairs to her bed. She climbed on top and stuck her head out. She found Adrien leaning against her railing, but his attention drew to her when he noticed movement.
"Come on in," she said, smiling. He didn't take his time, and with his usual grace, he slipped in and landed on her bed. She sat down on her bed and looked at him, and followed his movements when he sat down beside her. Giving her a few inches of space between them. Marinette took in a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. Why was she so nervous? The worst of everything was over and done. "Where should we start?"
"You're really Ladybug," he stated factly.
That earned him a chuckle from her. "Yes, I am really Ladybug."
"And you really meant it when you said you wouldn't tell a soul my secret," he explained.
"That's correct."
He got a sly grin on his face. "So, how did you pull off the whole thing with Multimouse?"
"Oh! Right!" Marinette gasped. "I did trick you, didn't I?"
"I understand why you did, but how did you ever pull that off?"
"Well, it's easy actually. Multimouse allows me to split into multiple versions of myself, and each one wore a Miraculous so I could have different abilities. I did that so I had the Kwami's with me, so I could get them back from inside Kwamibuster's pack. One of me, was what I called Multifox, used her power to make an illusion."
"So…the Akuma was basically not captured when I left? And it was all the fox Miraculous," Adrien asked.
"…Yeah, sorry, but you lied too and pretended you thought our school was an elementary school," Marinette explained. ."
"Geez, that was clever," Adrien complimented. He suddenly grinned at her. "And you had a huge crush on me this entire time, while I was crushing on Ladybug."
Marinette's cheeks went red. "I know. It's super embarrassing."
Both teens sat in silence for a little bit longer, but Adrien's hands moved across the bed, and carefully moved over her hands, and gave her a comforting squeeze. Marinette didn't look at him, but she gave his hand a squeeze back. "Can I ask you something though?"
"Of course you can, that's what this is all about."
'"What was it that you liked about Adrien? What made you like me? And why did you seem to hate Chat Noir as Ladybug, but not the few times we saw each other when I was Chat Noir," he asked.
That was a lot for Marinette to take in, and it took her several minutes to find her words. She tried to focus on each question on its own. "So, what I liked about Adrien was your kindness, and the vulnerability you showed me that day in the rain with the umbrella. I had misjudged you, but you opened up to me in a way I'm sure you never had before. It was that lonely sadness in your eyes that made me want to be someone special to you. As for my feelings regarding Chat Noir, it wasn't that I hated you at all. I never hated Chat Noir. I suppose my feelings towards Chat Noir was most like how they were when you saw me that night you were stood up by Ladybug. I like Chat Noir, and I don't hate his, your, sense of humor. I hated the timing of your jokes and flirting. In the middle of a battle. I just didn't understand. Until I realized you were Adrien that is. It all made sense then. You didn't have freedom. As Chat Noir, Adrien could be the goofy kid he wanted to be, and I couldn't judge Chat Noir for that anymore. So with that, I promise I won't give you so much grieve for the jokes during battles, but could you leave the hard core flirting for after the battles?"
Marinette didn't know how to read the look on Adrien's face. It was stone faced, but his green eyes did watch her and take in her sight. Her breath was stuck in her throat, and she felt very self-conscious when he turned his body more and with his left hand he reached for her face. His fingertips traced the shape of her jaw, and then her cheek. And then he leaned in. Slowly. So slow time seemed to have stopped. And it didn't get any quicker, and it took forever for her to feel the caress of his lips as they traced over hers.
There was a sensation of electricity that went up her spine, and she let an audible gasp escaped her lips, and something else burst in her chest. Her body relaxed and she leaned into him, her lips moving against his. The kiss was soft and tender. Slow, but passionate.
Even though it was hardly her first kiss, it felt like their first true kiss. No need for her to break the spell cast by Dark Cupid, or the mutually forgotten kiss because of Oblivio. Not him trying to silence her protests or her doing the same half an hour later when she tried to confess her secret.
They'd both remember this, and they did it out of the simple fact: they loved each other.
Their hands still held each other, him grasping her as if she may disappear, while his left hand still cupped her face. He pulled away, and his eyes opened, though they were still close enough that their foreheads were touching.
"Mari, does this mean you'll be my girlfriend?" he asked innocently.
"You dork," she giggled. "Of course I will."
It was enough for him to draw in for another kiss. This one deeper, but it ended quickly.
"What should we tell everyone?" Adrien asked.
"Oh…right," she sighed. "My parents think I should stay home again tomorrow, but if we tell everyone at school right away it would be suspicious."
"That's true," Adrien also sighed. "Well, can we openly date as Ladybug and Chat Noir?"
"Yes," Marinette said, though it came out as a little squeak. "I mean, I've gotten good at covering up my Ladybug secret. We could play you off as the concerned friend and when the photos blow over we could quietly make it official to our friends. Say that you asked me out and I said yes."
"I can do that," he said. "And my father said that I can spend time with friends as long as I complete my modeling gigs in an orderly fashion, though they would have to be at a friend's place or my home."
"That's wonderful!" she gasped. "More time for you to see Nino too!"
He agreed, but Adrien was watching her pretty face, which made her cheeks warm. It would have been a perfect moment, had she not noticed Tikki at the corner of her eye, turning her head to see the excited Kwami watching them. Marinette blushed harder while Adrien chuckled. "At least your Kwami is supportive, mine would have broken us up by now and demand more cheese."
"I can't help it, you too are just so sweet," Tikki gushed.
Adrien was still amused but he turned back to Marinette. "You should get some rest. You've been through so much today."
He stood and she followed, though she was surprised that he pulled the blanket back and motioned for her to get back into bed. She did, and was surprised when he reached down and ripped the socks off of her. A yelp escaped her lips, but she was surprised when he held up her very muddy socks. Marinette had been running around outside, so of course they were dirty. It took him only a moment to see her laundry bin and with perfect aim, he tossed them in. When he turned back to her, he pulled up the covers and tucked her in. He took another seat on the bed beside her.
"Can I see you tomorrow night?" he asked. "I could bring some snacks, like a good boyfriend."
Marinette smiled and gave him a nod. "I'd like that. I'll text you my new number tomorrow."
"Sounds good. I'll tell Alya you and I talked, and have cleared the air," Adrien said. "Is that alright?"
She nodded again. "I'll tell her the same."
He grinned at her. "There is one more thing I'd like to ask you about."
"Yeah?"
Still grinning he looked at her. "So, about your Instagram account. You're private one for friends only. There was an interesting one. The illusion knitting one."
He watched as her face went white and her mouth opened a little, and she ever so noticeably pulled the blankets closer to her. "Y-yeah?"
"It had your signature worked into it. Looked an awfully lot like the one my father gave me for my birthday. So I took a look. And guess what I found?"
Marinette tried to pull the blanket over her head completely, but Adrien pulled it back and leaned it and kissed her again, leaning his entire body over her. The blanket the only space between their upper bodies. When he pulled away, he found Marinette still looking embarrassed.
"It was your gift, wasn't it?" he asked.
She confirmed it with a nod.
"But you let me believe it was from my father?"
She agreed.
He leaned up and gave her a kiss on her forehead. "To make me happy?"
"Yes."
He shifted and gave her a kiss on each cheek, before he left another peak on her lips, and then drew away, sitting up again.
"Thank you for that, Mari."
"It's was more important that you were happy," she said, her voice just above a whisper.
He regretted having to go, but he drew up anyway, and looked at Tikki. "Take care of her for me?"
Tikki flashed him a smile, and with one more glance down at his bundled up princess, he carefully climbed over her and climbed up and out of the window, and disappeared into the darkness.
That left Marinette who was still trying to take it all in, and Tikki who flew over to Marinette's side and curled up in her usual spot. Marinette rolled over to look at the Kwami and smiled a little. "Today was a bad day. One of the worst days, but the last hour, kind of makes up for it, don't you think?"
Tikki was still smiling, unable to will it away, not that she wanted to. "I have to agree with you. A perfect end, to a really terrible day."
Marinette closed her eyes, a smile painted on her face. Tomorrow could only be better. And the day after that, and so forth, because she had her kitty. And a mutual secret.
A secret, they would keep.
A/N: Alrighty! That's it! That's the end. I think I got all the loose ends tied up now. I hope so. Because this chapter was so hard to finish. I had so much happening and with Black Friday, Covid, our move it's been a bit of a shit show.
I am planning to take a little bit of a break, but the first chapter of Consequences of Falling With You should be out sometime in December. My editor is looking at it. I have an actual editor. She's amazing.
In the meantime, if you want to join my discord server I have a link in my profile. You got to take out the spaces and at th and such because FFN is allergic to links. It's a fun to hang out, get updates, share memes, get fanfic recommendations, and talk about whatever.
I also have an original novel I am writing weekly on Tapas. It's free to read, and it's a rewrite of the first novel I ever wrote. So it's pretty silly, but it's a lot of fun.
Thank you so much for sticking with me this long. I hope it was a good pay off, and I that you all enjoyed it. I'm glad I came back and finished it, and can't wait to start these other projects. Hope to hear from you all soon!