Little Baby in a Crib
by: JuliaFC
Betas: Agrestebug, Mia Brown, Etoile-Lead-Sama, Rosehealer02, Malauu-Ladynoir, Genxha, Callmedale, Mansi (shamelesslyromantic). Thank you all so much! Also thanks to Khan, who can't take off his beta-reader hat and proceeded to beta read his own gift. You're a great friend, Khan!
Cover art credit to beebeebombam on Tumblr, used with permission. Thank you so much!
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
This is a gift for my amazing friend and beta, KhanOfAllOrcs, who was a bit down and needed cheering up. Hope this will make you smile ^-^
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"Little kitty on a roof, all alone without his Lady," hummed Chat Noir, sitting at the usual spot where they would start their daily patrol.
"Hey, Chaton," came Ladybug's voice from behind him, causing him to startle slightly. "I didn't make you wait too long, did I?"
He smiled as he looked at her. "Not at all, M'lady, don't worry. You weren't that late this time."
She sat next to him and bummed her way closer. "What about the song you were singing then? I've heard you singing it a couple of times, always when I'm late."
"That song," he said with a little sigh, his gaze getting lost in the emptiness laid out before him, "is very special to me. Not as special as you are, Buginette." He winked flirtatiously and chuckled at her eye-roll reaction. "But still very special."
Ladybug looked at him for a while, noticing how far away his gaze still was and how loudly he had sighed after he spoke. "Care to tell me about it?"
Chat Noir's eyes darted to her face, his previously pensive expression changing to one of pure fondness. "My maman used to sing me this song as a lullaby to help me fall asleep as a baby. It was from a film she ac— I mean, from a film she really liked. I just adapted the words to me and you."
Ladybug smiled. "Your maman sounds like a really nice person, Chat Noir."
"She was," he admitted, "or she is, I don't know. She disappeared a little over a year ago."
Ladybug's smile died on her face, her brows furrowing in a frown, her complexion turning ashen. "Oh God, I'm so sorry Minou, I didn't want to—"
He smiled and looked at her, shaking his head. "Don't worry Buginette, it's okay. You couldn't know." He looked down and was quiet for a long time, letting his feet and legs swing freely from the edge of the rooftop they were sitting on. "I always sing that song when I feel lonely. It makes me feel closer to maman."
Tears filled Ladybug's eyes. How insensitive could she have been? Again she had misjudged him. Again she had let her first impression of him take control. She had thought that the song was just a silly rhyme. She would never have thought that it held such heartfelt meaning to him. To be completely honest, even after Glaciator and even after having known him for all this time, she still couldn't believe that Chat Noir had such a deep and sorrowful side to himself. He always looked so happy, so carefree.
"I'm sorry, Chat Noir. I didn't want you to feel lonely, or sad. I will try to be on time next patrol. Promise."
He glanced at her sheepishly and raised a hand to the nape of his neck. "I'm never sad when I'm with you, M'lady. Shall we start patrol? I can see some people taking pictures of us over there. Wouldn't want them to mistake us for a couple…" He said the past sentence while wiggling his eyebrows, but she could see the way his shoulders tensed and she knew he still wasn't okay.
"Not going to happen, Chaton," said Ladybug, giving him a smug look. His tension eased and he chuckled a little as she let the subject fall. She didn't want him to feel uncomfortable. And besides, he was right. People were indeed taking pictures of them. They got up and Ladybug let the yoyo take her wherever it wanted, followed closely by her partner.
oOoOoOoOoOo
Usually, she wouldn't have thought about it any more. Maybe her brain would have picked the memory out next time she heard him singing the song, but that would have been it. Not this time, though.
The following morning in school, Mlle. Bustier smiled at her students as she fondly stroked her growing belly. "Good morning, class."
"Good morning, Mlle. Bustier."
"Today I need to step out for an ob-gyn appointment which, unfortunately, had to be scheduled during school hours. M. Damocles agreed for me to go, and it shouldn't take me any longer than 45 minutes." She looked at Marinette. "I have assigned a quick project for you to do in pairs. I have already selected the pairs and will give the selection and all the instructions to Marinette. I leave you in the class president's capable hands."
"Will this project impact our grade, Mlle.?" asked Max, sounding a little worried.
"It will. You don't have to finish it today, it won't be due for a while and it shouldn't be too difficult for you to do well. Now if you'll excuse me…" She beckoned Marinette to come closer and quietly explained the project. Then she dashed out of the classroom looking worriedly at her watch.
Marinette skimmed through the instructions. She really liked Mlle. Bustier and knew she wasn't going to be disappointed with her teacher's choice. And the project looked so interesting. At least, it did until she looked at the pairing arrangements, and her heart froze.
No, that must have been a mistake on Mlle. Bustier's part. No, she couldn't possibly be paired with Adrien. That wasn't right. That wasn't how life should be. She should be paired with Alya and Adrien with Nino… but the more she read and re-read the list of pairings, the more the names Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng next to one another stood out and made her blood freeze.
On second thought, she didn't like this project. Nope. She didn't like this project at all.
"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous," came Chloé's trademark comment, waking her up from her bewilderment. "She's been there staring at those papers with an idiotic look on her face for the last few minutes. What are you waiting for, Dupain-Cheng? For Mlle. Bustier to return?"
'That wouldn't be a bad idea,' thought Marinette. But Chloé was right, for once. Marinette frowned as she realised that. "Oh, sorry!" she said instead and looked up. "The project is about researching traditional songs, or songs that have a tradition or a meaning in your family or in your life. We must explain in our project how these songs have shaped our life and how, or if, we carry on using them nowadays. These are the pairings."
She gave Alya a pleading look and carefully avoided glancing in Adrien's direction. "Alya can read them to you all while I go make some copies of the instructions." Her voice rose a whole octave as she said the second part of her sentence. When she saw Alya standing up to take the paper with the list of pairings from her hand, she gave her a nervous smile before literally bolting out of the door with the instructions sheet.
When she came back to class a couple of minutes later, she saw something wrong in the arrangement of the seats. Her heart started beating in her ears when she met Adrien's gaze and he gave her one of his brightest smiles. She blushed to the root of her hair. As usual, her being selfish had backfired on her badly. Alya was sitting in the first row with Nino (as was her pairing) and Adrien was sitting in Alya's place, next to her seat. All the other students had moved to sit with the person they had been paired with. Chloé looked extremely displeased with the pairing arrangements, as she was now sitting at the back, next to Max.
Marinette kept her gaze trained on Chloé and on her pouty, annoyed face as she walked back to where Alya was sitting. It was the best way to hold onto some sanity. She quickly looked at her best friend when she reached her seat and Alya winked, mouthing 'you're welcome' to her. When Marinette passed her the photocopies of the instructions and glared at her, Alya simply picked her copy, passed the other copies along, and smiled smugly, folding her arms over her chest. "I just thought it was a good idea so we could all start discussing our projects in our pairs, Marinette." She raised an eyebrow. "That's what Mlle. Bustier asked us to do in her absence, right? Have fun!" She emphasised the last word in such a tone that Marinette had no doubts as to the double meaning attached to it.
She sighed. She loved Alya. The young journalist was the person Marinette trusted more than anyone in the whole universe. But when that girl got an idea in her mind, it was extremely difficult to make her back out. And, unfortunately, no matter how many times she had explained to her that she didn't have time (or the strength) for romance in her busy schedule as Ladybug, Alya kept riding her 'Adrienette ship'.
After ensuring that everybody had gotten their copy of the instructions, like a criminal walking the gallows, Marinette climbed with heavy feet the step that separated her from her seat and collapsed into it. She didn't dare to take a single look in Adrien's direction for quite a while. When finally she gathered the courage to peek a little, she saw that he was reading the instructions for the project with interest.
"Hi, Marinette," he said and beamed at her. Marinette felt all blood rushing to her face. Oh God, she had thought she was past this. She had managed to actually have a couple of normal conversations with him lately.
She gulped awkwardly and looked up into his eyes. "H-hi!" she said, but when her blue met green, she felt her heart skip a beat. Crap. How was she going to concentrate well enough to do a project with him? Knowing that he had recently broken up with Kagami wasn't helping. At all! As easy and entertaining as the school project may be, she couldn't think of anything and only melted in a puddle of goo every time she caught sight of his eyes. And the way he looked at her. It should be illegal. Seriously, he had to stop looking at her that way. You just don't look at your 'just a friend' like that!
Right?
"Have you got any ideas about the project?" he asked and Marinette's mind finally managed to get out of the self-induced mesmerising she had gotten herself into and attempted to focus on the task.
"Oh yes. The project. Right. Yep. So…" She locked her gaze to the questions on the paper and tried to stubbornly ignore the heat she was feeling coming out of the ray of sunshine sitting next to her. She involuntarily fanned herself.
"—Hot?" he asked, and she realised that she had completely zoned out.
"Uh, yes you're hot. I mean I'm hot. Uh, I mean it's very warm, yes." She smiled sheepishly at him and blushed a little. Then, with immense effort, she moved slightly closer to him and gave her full attention to the instructions at hand. "S-so… about the project…"
"Yes?" he asked.
"I actually have a good one," she said and mentally congratulated herself for having managed to put a whole sentence together in front of him without stuttering or mixing her words once. She closed her eyes and took a big breath, trying to calm the mad beating of her heart. That seemed to work. That and the fact that with her eyes closed, she couldn't see him. "My dad always sings a song when he's baking bread. He's always said that the song helps the bread come out perfectly and if he didn't sing, the bread would be disgusting, no matter how much effort he put into it."
"Oh," said Adrien from her side, bringing her back from her self-isolated bubble. "That sounds really good. Is the song famous?"
"It is," she said and started humming it under her breath and pretending to knead the dough. "Les petits pains pétris avec amour sont bien meilleurs lorsqu'ils sortent du four…(1)"
"Oh, I know that song! The words are different, but it's the aria from the Carmen, isn't it?" For once, it didn't take any effort for her to look at him and nod. He beamed at her.
"L'amour est un oiseau rebelle," she said, turning around quickly and looking at the instructions again. "But Papa changed the words of it."
"Very clever," he said and Marinette didn't have the courage to look at him.
"Yep." She kept her eyes trained on the questions on the paper, trying her best to ignore his hand, mere centimetres from her own. "Made kneading the dough so much more fun! We used to spend hours singing the song and kneading and then having competitions to establish which bread was the best, with my mother as a judge." As she said that, her face got a dreamy expression and she got lost in the fond memories of so many afternoons of laughter and fun.
"I bet!" he said; she felt him nearly crouching over himself. "I wish I had tales as good as that to add to the project."
Marinette looked at him, her eyes now full with sadness. "Oh, Adrien, don't worry, I have plenty of other anecdotes, we can use mine!" She was surprised by how easily she managed to say that entire sentence, just to try to cheer him up. "For example when—" she started, but she saw his eyes light up suddenly; her tongue froze.
"Actually, I think I have one, too." He blushed and moved his hand to his nape, rubbing it nervously when her eyes widened.
"Really? Please do tell!" In her excitement because he had found something to talk about and had cheered up, she totally forgot about her shyness and leaned forward next to him, looking at him expectantly. He gave her a warm smile.
"You remember 'Solitude'?" he inquired and then looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
"How could I ever forget?" She sighed and moved her gaze again to the list on their desk. "The time we nearly managed to watch a film together." Yes, keep focusing on the list. Don't look at him. It's working!
"Yeah," he said, his eyes losing the light they had gained seconds before.
Marinette was obviously not following her own advice and had been looking at him. So she noticed, and mentally kicked herself. "What about 'Solitude', and your anecdote?" she asked, noticing with a painful pang in her heart that the gleam in Adrien's eyes returned as soon as she asked the question.
"Well, as you know, my mother was the main actress in that movie." Marinette nodded. "There was a song that my mother really loved the melody of. Exactly like your dad, she changed the words of the song and used it as a lullaby to put me to sleep. Let me see if I can find the tune in my collection." He skimmed through the folders of his tablet and after searching a little while, he erupted in a victorious "aha!" Then, he proceeded to take out his ear plugs and unceremoniously popped one of them into her ear, putting the other one into his, and pressed 'play'.
When Marinette started listening to the song, she initially attempted to relax. The music was very soft and the melody from the violin was so pretty. But then, the singer's voice came into play and Marinette felt all blood draining from her face. Her hands started feeling like ice, her breath caught.
CRAP!
She recognised that tune. She attempted a smile, but based on the frown on Adrien's face, she must have only managed a nervous cringe. "You don't like it?"
She sucked her breath in. "Oh no, it's beautiful. It really is! H-how d-did your m-mother change the w-words of it?" she asked, faking enthusiasm while in reality she was dying inside. She couldn't believe it… she simply couldn't believe it!
Adrien's eyes got the softest gleam in them, a gleam she had never, ever seen. A gleam that made her fall in love with him twice as much. Her heart swell for the boy as he smiled and said, "Well, it goes like this, 'Little baby in a crib, all alone without his mommy…'" Adrien kept singing quietly, but Marinette wasn't listening anymore. As she heard his voice singing the first few words of the melody, the words didn't matter any longer. The mask didn't matter any longer. She knew that song, she knew that voice. The memory of a white version of him with piercing blue eyes singing it atop Montparnasse Tower still haunted her nightmares.
"—you think? Marinette? Are you okay?" She felt a hand passing in front of her eyes and gasped so loudly that Alya turned around and gave her a wink. Marinette paled even further.
"Uh… yes. Yes, I'm okay Ch-Adrien." Bugger! She had nearly called him Chaton! She shook her head, trying to gain some clarity and finally took a good look at Adrien, his confusion showing clearly in the frown on his face.
Oh my God.
How could she have missed it? It was him! It was REALLY him! Alya had been right when she had tried to put a cat mask on his face.
"The song was so beautiful! Thanks for singing it for me." She gave him a genuine smile. She hadn't really heard it, but anything that had such a strong connection with his mother and would give such a gorgeous gleam to his eyes was beautiful, regardless.
He beamed at her. "I'm glad. I'm not very good at singing, my mother was much better than m—" he said, but she shushed him by putting a finger over his mouth. The boldness of her act surprised her and she noticed that he had widened his eyes too.
"Shh, don't talk nonsense. You don't need to be an Opera singer, Adrien. You sang it with this." She moved her hand from his lips and put it on his chest, close to his heart. God, she had touched his chest. Just that thought was making adrenaline rush through her body. And on top of that, she could feel his heart beating madly underneath her hand for a second. Where had that boldness come from? Only because she now knew he was Chat Noir, her goofy partner, the silly dork who was always ready to crack a joke, especially at the most inappropriate times? "Your heart is all that matters, and that's what makes it beautiful."
The softness in his gaze made her blush to the roots of her hair. She smiled wryly.
"Thank you, Marinette. It's a song that I like singing, especially when I'm alone. I also changed the words of it myself once, for the girl I love, but I'm not singing that version." He again put his hand to the nape of his neck, blushed deep red, closed his eyes and laughed nervously.
Marinette knew exactly what version he was talking about and was dying to ask him to sing it. But she knew he couldn't, because it would have jeopardised his identity. So she chose to ignore his comment. "We will have to work with your mother's version, then." She gave him a little smirk and the confusion she saw in his eyes was priceless.
'Oh, Chaton,' Marinette thought. 'There's no way you're getting away with this. No way.'
A part of her wanted to strangle him for having given his secret away like that, but another part of her knew perfectly well that if she had been any other person, that song would have meant nothing. It wasn't his fault; he simply didn't know he had sung the same song to the same girl twice in 24 hours.
Then, an even smaller part of her acknowledged what Adrien had just said — that he had changed the wording of that song for 'the girl he loved', and it suddenly all clicked.
So that was it. It was Ladybug all this time. Ladybug was the girl who didn't like his jokes, not Kagami.
She had spent a fair amount of time feeling jealous of… herself, while rejecting Chat Noir… for himself. The irony of that was unmissable!
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The next few days were pure agony for Marinette. She tried. She really tried to take Adrien to a place where they could talk and be completely honest. Tell him that she knew his identity. And of course, because she had tried so hard to do it, it had been basically impossible.
The first time that she tried, she had asked him to finish their project in the library with her just after school. Adrien had made quite a few phone calls to change his schedule, and had had a small argument with Nathalie to make her understand that the grade for that paper was going to influence his overall course grade. But as they had sat and she was gathering the courage to talk, the akuma alert rang and Adrien just fled, using the excuse that during akuma alerts his father wanted him safe.
That was his usual excuse. Gosh, how could have she fallen for it up to now?
The second time, she tried to find some private time between the end of his fencing training and his Chinese lesson, but Kagami had been so rough that day that he ended up with a small injury to his back and had to go home early.
The third time, Ladybug tried to talk to him at the end of an akuma attack, but it just didn't work out: they had only one minute left before detransforming and Chat Noir 'had to s-cat'.
The fourth time she tried during patrol. But, suddenly, the whole town seemed to need their help. They were pulled away from each other left and right until it became too late and Chat Noir just… had to go again.
The fifth time she set up a meeting to discuss the matter at hand. She organised it late at night, to make sure that there wouldn't be any snoopers and that Adrien had plenty of time in his schedule to allow a proper discussion to take place. But, of course, as soon as she started talking, the akuma alert went off, and after a long and tiring battle, it was time to go home, as they had school in the morning.
So the sixth time, she cornered him behind a chimney, grabbed his shoulders with her hands, slammed his back against the wall, and looked him straight in the eye.
"M'lady, if you wanted to make out you could have said so," said Chat Noir a bit out of breath, a nervous smile curling his lips. She looked at the position they were in and mentally screamed because now that he had pointed it out, she couldn't unsee it and her inner shy self took control and tied her tongue, not allowing her to say more.
So the following time she wrote it down. She prepared a very heartfelt letter where she didn't reveal his identity (you never know, someone may get their hands on it and discover his identity) but explained to him what had happened and how she had found out. But when she gave him the paper to read, he scratched his head and looked at her funny. "Th-that's a really sweet drawing of Chat Noir, M'lady, it's very nice of you, I'll treasure it, thank you."
Ladybug snatched the paper back from his hand, to realise that it was the drawing of Chat Noir that Manon had drawn that afternoon, when she had babysat her.
Shoot. That meant that Manon had… her letter! She felt all blood drain from her face, so much so that Chat Noir asked her if she had seen a ghost.
"No, I'm fine. I'll be right back, don't move!" she said and fled. But it took her a very long time to reach Nadja's house, realise to her horror that Nadja had found the letter (because Manon had wanted to show mommy her beautiful drawing) and manage to somehow explain to Nadja that she had the habit of writing… fanfictions (hey! She had to say something…) about Ladybug and Chat Noir and she had accidentally put a chapter of her latest story in Manon's school bag instead of her drawing, which she promptly returned, obtaining her letter back in exchange. By the time she transformed again to head back to their meeting point, she had a voice message from Chat Noir telling her that he'd had to go. He had also added that he wouldn't have been able to transform unless it was an akuma alert in the following few days because of something going on in his civilian life. She knew perfect well what it was—the summer line of the Agreste brand was being introduced and he had back to back photoshoots which included shooting at evening times.
She couldn't leave it that long. It was so frustrating it wasn't even funny. She had to talk to him, she had to clarify things. Why was the world against her? The problem was that they were too noticeable as superheroes, and as Marinette and Adrien, his schedule was just too full, and hers wasn't empty, either.
"What can I do, Tikki?" she mused that evening, sitting at her desk. "I can't keep it a secret too much longer or he's going to get upset that I found out and didn't tell him. But it just seems to be an impossible task!"
Tikki flew in front of her nose. "I personally don't know how to help you, Marinette. But Sass had an idea last night, would you like to know what it is?"
"Of course!" She looked at the small snake kwami. "Tell me, Sass. What's your idea?"
"Well…" started the kwami, his expression almost emotionless, but his voice much more suave. "I wassss talking to Mullo the other day; he really enjoyed it when you were Multimousssse. And even if the young lad made me work for monthssss almost without a resssst, I like him. Hissss heart issss in the right place. What if you recccccycle a couple of lessssss known ssssuperheroes, sssso that you're lesssss noticeable and you have more time to talk during a patrol?"
Marinette blinked. And blinked again. "Do you mean recycling Multimouse and Aspik?"
Sass nodded.
"I don't know if I like this," said Marinette, touching her chin dubiously with her fingers. "Haven't I been warned so many times that it's not a good idea to use the Miraculouses for selfish reasons?"
Tikki sighed. "Yes, you're right Marinette. But if you can't manage to talk to Chat Noir in any other way, you have no choice. It's your duty as the Guardian to inform him that his identity has been compromised."
Marinette seemed to be thinking carefully about it. "So you're telling me that I wouldn't be using the Miraculouses for selfish reasons?"
"Maybe a little ssselfish," replied Sass. "But you would be also doing your duty asss a Guardian. Which issn't sssselfish, issss it?"
"Don't know if I'm totally convinced, but it does start to look like that's my only option." Marinette sighed. "I hate the idea of having to lie to him, though. I'll keep trying a little longer, maybe?"
oOoOoOoOoOo
And that's how Ladybug ended up knocking at Adrien Agreste's window, later that night. Adrien looked at her with surprise and ran to the window to let her in.
"Ladybug! To what do I owe the honour—" he started to say.
She smiled. "Adrien, I need to talk to you. Do you think it's safe for us to talk here?"
He looked warily at his watch and scratched his head. "There shouldn't be a problem right now. It's nearly dinner time, though, so it needs to be quick." He pointed at his sofa and asked, "Do you want to sit down?"
"It's very kind of you, thank you, but it's probably better if I stay by the window, just in case," she said, eyeing the door with concern. He nodded and smiled softly.
"So, what can I do for you?" His eyes sparkled with joy and Ladybug felt like melting on the spot. Why was it so hard for her to talk to him? He was her minou, after all. Her goofy, carefree and silly partner. Her best friend. Her crush. Scratch that, damn it! Her best friend! Keep that thought.
She could do this!
No, she couldn't...
"Well, you see, the thing is…" She blushed and started fiddling with her fingers. Her gaze darted everywhere except to his face, and she felt her cheeks getting very warm. Unbidden, her eyes drifted up to meet his, and the intensity she saw there rendered her speechless.
Shoot. That wasn't the right time to feel flustered!
She sighed and took a big massive breath, but as she finally gained the courage to start talking, she heard a knock at the door, and her heart started pounding in her ears. Adrien gestured for her to go outside, which she did gladly, hoping to be able to come back soon. But Adrien left the room following Nathalie and Ladybug eventually had to leave altogether.
The following evening she was at his window again, about an hour later than the night before.
"Is now a better time?" she inquired.
"I had dinner, but unfortunately my house is not very safe or private, Ladybug, not until everyone else has gone to bed. And it would feel… improper to invite you to my room that late at night!" Both blushed to the roots of their hair and Ladybug had to agree with him. Yes, it would have been totally improper.
"Can I 'kidnap' you then? I can take you somewhere a bit more private and bring you back when we're done." When she heard herself saying that, she blushed even more deep red. "On second thought, scratch that too. It came out really wrong!"
Adrien laughed softly with his eyes closed and brought a hand to the nape of his neck. She knew him too well to not know that he only did that when he was terribly embarrassed. "You can kidnap me, if you want, I don't mind. But if somebody comes looking for me and they don't find me, I'm in trouble."
He had just finished saying that, when someone indeed knocked at his door, even this time. Ladybug just zipped her yoyo and fled.
Hence, Marinette gave up. Sass' idea didn't sound that bad at the end of the day. It was her duty as a Guardian to inform Adrien that she now knew his identity and if having a meeting as Aspik and Multimouse was the only way to do it, well, that's how it would be done. Even if it meant lying to him.
So the following night, she tapped at his window again. "Adrien, I've come here to ask you a favour. We better be quick, before someone knocks on your door tonight too!"
"I'm all ears, Ladybug!" he said, his eyes sparkling with a mixture of pride and mischief.
"Well," she said and looked up, "You see, something has come up in my civilian life and I have some… superhero things I need to do." She eyed him as she said so and noticed clearly how he gasped at her words. Had she done it wrong? Maybe she should have thought of a better excuse? She hated lying to him. "I'm going to be away for a few days and I need someone to support Chat Noir in my absence."
"Oh?" hummed Adrien, his hand scratching his chin. He was probably wondering why she hadn't spoken to Chat Noir about it yet.
"I tried to tell Chat Noir in the last few days, but I was always interrupted. And he told me that this week he has quite a lot on his plate, so I don't really want to leave him alone. That's why I thought I could reach out to you. You were great when you used the Miraculous of the Snake. I know it didn't work out then, but you tried really hard and this time there's no Desperada. Second Chance is a great tool to use on patrol, if you'd ever need me. You would just need to call me and I would be back using the Horse Miraculous in a dash."
Adrien looked up. Then he looked down. Then he blushed and scratched the nape of his neck with his right hand. "I would love to help you, Ladybug, but I have a crazy schedule this week and can't guarantee I would be able to patrol the city."
Ladybug pouted and sighed. Nope. She wasn't going to let it happen. "I am aware that you're busy, Adrien, and I'm sorry that I have to ask you to do this in the first place. But you're one of the very few people I feel I can trust, after Chat Noir." She saw his proud smile as she said that and felt her insides melting. She shook her head. She wasn't going to get distracted again. Not today. "I-I k-know for certain th-that you would be a fantastic Miraculous holder. And I need someone whose identity hasn't been exposed to Hawkmoth. You're the perfect choice and it would be only for a few days. If any akuma attacks, you can call me with your Snake communicator on the lyre." She looked at him with her best impression of puppy eyes. She saw Adrien scratching his nape a little harder and then sigh and slope his shoulders.
"Okay, I can give it a go if you want me to."
Ladybug beamed at him and picked up the Snake Miraculous from inside her yoyo. "Adrien Agreste. This is the Miraculous of the Snake, which gives the power of Intuition. You will use it for the greater good. Once your mission will be accomplished, you will return the Miraculous to me. Can I trust you?"
"Yes, Ladybug," he said softly, a gleam of delight in his green eyes. She showed him her hand flat open, palm up, holding the Ouroboros bracelet on it. Adrien picked it up a little reluctantly and as he put it on his wrist, Sass appeared in a flash of light.
"Niccce to ssssee you again, my lad."
"Hi Sass." Adrien giggled when the kwami twirled around him with a little smirk.
Maybe it isn't such a good idea, Ladybug thought, and was nearly going to change her mind and take the Miraculous back. But she couldn't say or do anything more, because someone knocked at the door. AGAIN. She gave him a quick wave and zipped her way out of the window. As she landed on a near rooftop, she saw Nathalie coming into the room and talking to him. She breathed a sigh of relief. She had done it at last!
She hid behind a chimney, took out from her yoyo the Miraculous of the Mouse and donned it. Then, she whispered "Spots off." Tikki and Mullo appeared in a flash of light.
"Is it necessary to use the Miraculous of the Mouse, Tikki?" asked Marinette, still not fully convinced.
"You can certainly try to talk to him as Ladybug, Marinette. But it may cause the same kind of problems as when you were trying to talk to Chat Noir. Besides, you just told him that you're going away!"
"That's true." Marinette sighed. "But maybe I can talk to him tonight?"
"Are you sure that talking tonight would be a good idea?" asked Tikki. She flew a bit higher than the chimney and looked into Adrien's room. "He seems to be having quite a long discussion with Nathalie."
Marinette sighed. "I will wait for a while here, in case he decides to head out for a quick stroll, so that maybe I can talk to him today. Otherwise, I'll look for him tomorrow, as Multimouse."
And so Marinette waited for quite some time. She saw Adrien pace his room and talk to Sass. And to Plagg. Marinette facepalmed in frustration: now that she knew, and was actually paying attention, it was so easy to see that Adrien was Chat Noir. And it was quite jarring to realise how easy it would have been to notice, just passing by his window one day, and spotting Plagg.
Now that she looked at the way the kwami of Destruction moved around the room, she realised that he wasn't as discreet as Tikki. No, Plagg was definitely the very opposite of discreet. Even the whole crew of kwamis she was hiding in her room were more discreet than the black embodiment of Destruction. And all those security cameras… a shiver ran down Marinette's spine. Thank God kwamis weren't detected by technology! She kept watching Adrien for a while, until she saw that he was getting ready to go to bed, and she hastily zipped her yoyo to the nearest chimney and disappeared in the darkness.
For a couple of days, Adrien didn't transform. He also looked very tired. Every evening when she started snooping at his room from the same far away chimney, she could see him coming back home later and later, crash on the bed, Plagg trying to lift his head by his hair but failing miserably, and after a while, he would drag himself to his desk and spend hours doing what Marinette supposed was his homework (which she too should have been doing and felt really guilty about letting it slide).
Maybe it had been a bad idea. Yes, it definitely had been a bad idea. Maybe Adrien was afraid of transforming into Aspik again? Marinette couldn't blame him after the traumatic experience he had had the first time. Plus, there was that nagging prickle that came from using the two Miraculouses for a selfish reason, which she wasn't still very happy or convinced about. No, it had been another bad idea. She better become Ladybug again and knock at his window once more and get the Miraculous back.
But as she thought that, Marinette stopped in her tracks. Adrien was pacing angrily in his room. Nathalie was also in the room with him, and Gabriel Agreste came immediately after. They seemed to be having quite a heated argument, and Marinette felt bad about snooping. True, she was too far for eavesdropping or making out anything of what was going on, but the situation seemed to leave Adrien extremely shaken and she knew he wouldn't have been impressed had he known that she had seen that.
When Gabriel and Nathalie finally left the room, she saw Adrien crash onto his bed and lay on it face down for a long time. Probably crying all his tears out. The scene left Marinette extremely surprised.
Yes, Adrien had said an innumerable amount of times that the situation at home wasn't the best. He had said that his father was controlling, that he didn't allow him to do anything a normal teenager would do. But Marinette had never seen Adrien losing it so badly. He had always been so calm and controlled, even in his sadness or in his anger.
What she saw in his room instead was a boy red in the face, who screamed, who stomped his feet, who hit the wall with his fist (and then held it for a long time with the other hand, probably trying to soothe the pain). She saw Plagg and Sass trying to console him, Plagg lowering his ears flat and retreating inside his cheese cabinet. What was going on? She got seriously worried that he might be akumatised and kept a watch, scanning the sky for any sign of akumas, but no akuma came.
How weird.
Maybe it was the time to knock at his window and get Sass back? Seeing her may cheer him up, and if she managed to finally talk to him, and be honest with him, that may be enough to make his day become better, no matter what was the reason for his argument with his father.
But suddenly, she saw a flash of turquoise light and Adrien transformed into Aspik and jumped out of his window with ease. Shoot. She had missed her chance, and now it was too late! Marinette transformed into Multimouse and started following him around — although keeping up with his pace was a problem because he was very fast, much faster than he'd ever been during patrol.
Probably he needed to vent, and he vented by running on the rooftops. Tikki would maybe even call this a selfish use of his power, but Marinette couldn't blame him. After all, she'd done the same when she'd nearly had a breakdown after her breakup with Luka. And she knew he loved running on the rooftops. It gave him a sense of freedom, and now more than ever, Marinette understood why. She finally had the whole picture and could see right through his mask. And what she saw surprised her. She had always thought that, despite having a controlling father, Adrien's life was exciting and beautiful. But what she had spied on in the last couple of days, and especially the argument with Gabriel he'd just had, and his reaction, gave her a completely different picture.
Eventually, Adrien landed on the usual rooftop where Chat Noir always waited for her to start patrol. He sat in the exact place Chat Noir used to sit, starting to swing his feet and legs exactly the way Chat usually did. Marinette landed just behind him and she expected him to turn around and notice her. But no, he didn't. She moved near him and sat down next to him like she usually did. He still didn't acknowledge her but kept staring into the nothing in front of him. She could still see the tears, and how red his eyes were, even with the modified sclera of the Snake Miraculous.
"Hello?" she tried to say. He didn't show any sign of having heard her. So she became more brave and passed a hand in front of his eyes. He got startled and seemed to wake up from a dream. He turned around hastily, searching his surroundings like a cornered prey. When he saw her, his eyes grew wide.
"Ma-Multimouse?" he muttered, and then his eyes widened, he blushed profusely and bit his lip, having probably realised his mistake—as Aspik, he wasn't supposed to know Multimouse's name.
Marinette smiled and chose to ignore it: she hadn't done this to humiliate him, only to talk to him. And she already knew the truth. No need to dig the blade deeper.
"Hi!" she said and waved. "Aspik, I suppose? Ladybug told me I would find you at some point. Did she tell you about me?"
Adrien blushed, looked down and rubbed the nape of his neck with his hand. "Uh, yes, she did. Nice to meet you!" She saw him relaxing, probably relieved that he had found a way to mask his little slip. "Ladybug told me amazing things about you!" he added, sending blood rushing to her face.
"D-did she?" She knew it was a lie, but it was so nice to self-indulge for once.
Adrien nodded, his eyes closed, a soft smile curling his lips. "Aha," he said. "You're amazing. I was a bit afraid of going solo on patrol, so she told me about how fantastic you were against Kwamibuster and it made me feel so much better. Wow. Wearing and unifying all those Miraculouses must have been an achievement and a half! I only ever unified two and was exhausted at the end of the battle."
He thought there was no harm in saying it. After all, this was Multimouse, a.k.a. Marinette. She had worked alongside them only against Kwamibuster and had never met Aspik personally. She had no way to verify his words or to doubt them. And besides, she wouldn't have been able to know that it had been Chat Noir and not Aspik to unify Sass and Plagg. The only one who knew that detail was Ladybug.
Marinette's gaze softened. She looked into Adrien's eyes and all she could see was true admiration. Yes, he was lying because he had to protect his identity, but the feeling he was expressing about her? That was indeed truthful, and real. She felt blood rushing to her cheeks and had to lower her gaze. "Thank you." She crouched a little on herself to recover from her embarrassment. Then she looked up and smiled warmly. "You're not so bad, yourself."
Adrien lowered his gaze. "Uh, you must be mistaking me for the other holder of the Snake. I-I only held this Miraculous once, and the mission was such a disaster that I ended up nearly afraid of accepting the Snake ever again." He pulled his legs up and hugged them at the knees, sighing loudly. "I'm a total failure."
Marinette put a hand on his shoulder. He gasped and looked at her as she said softly, "Don't say that, Aspik. Ladybug told me that you were really brave. You failed, that's true, but you kept trying, stubbornly, tenaciously, trying your hardest to keep her safe."
His eyes had again tears in them as he objected, "And yet, I failed. The other holder was much better than me. The only good thing I did was giving the Miraculous up." He sighed and his voice cracked. "After having tried to save M—uh, Ladybug 25,913 times!" He hugged his legs tighter and crouched over himself, as if trying to disappear and drown in his misery.
But then, Marinette did something that he would never have expected her to do. She moved closer and wrapped him into a hug. He couldn't avoid opening his eyes wide as his head shot up at the gesture, allowing Marinette to hug him tighter. Wow. Um, Marinette was being very friendly with someone she was supposed to never have met, but Adrien shrugged off the thought as soon as it came to his mind. His shock only lasted for a second before his legs went back to hanging off the roof, and his arms wrapped around the girl as he hugged her back.
He didn't know how long they sat there like that. All he knew was that he didn't want the hug to end. He needed it. It was an actual physical need, especially after the massive row he'd had with his father earlier. Especially after he had been told that he needed to completely redo the three-day long, exhausting photoshoot he had just finished, because his father wasn't happy with the lighting of the pictures. That he wouldn't have had not even one day of rest, and he would have needed to skip two days of school to catch up with his father's requests.
But he didn't want to think of his father right now. He didn't want to think of the three days of pure torture he had ahead of himself. All he wanted to concentrate on was her wonderful scent. Her scent that intoxicated his nostrils. She smelled of baked goods and wildflower, with a hint of jasmine. A perfume so sweet he wished it would stay forever under his nose.
She was warm. And soft.
Eventually, however, they had to break the hug, and when his gaze met the bluebell eyes behind the mouse mask, his heart sped up. They were so full of empathy that he wanted to just squeal and hug her again.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Sometimes the real hero is the one who realises his mistake and admits defeat. It must have taken a lot of courage to give the Miraculous back, to accept that someone else was more suited for it. You've been so brave, Aspik." She cupped a hand on his cheek as she said that and stroked the skin under his eye with her gloved thumb.
Adrien blushed to the base of his mask. "Thank you!" He sniffled, wiped his eyes, and gave Marinette a genuine smile, one of those smiles that lit up his whole face.
Marinette blushed. "You're good. I m-mean, you're okay. Uh, it's okay." This made Adrien's smile grow wider. Yes, that was still Marinette underneath that mask. And no matter what he was wearing, somehow she still managed to word-vomit in front of him, even if she didn't know that it was him. Some things would never change.
He looked at the view in front of him. The afternoon light had given in slowly to dusk as he had been venting his frustration running on the rooftops, and now the Iron Lady was already lit up and towered proudly in front of them, as the lights of the city slowly popped on in the blue and indigo canopy of the sky.
Marinette observed him for a long time as his thoughts got lost in the beauty of the view, not daring to say anything, to not bring him back to reality. He seemed to be in a much better place. She had nearly decided to stand up and leave him to his réverie, when she found herself stroking something soft and… purring?
She looked down at her lap and saw a little black cat. She gave a quick look around: there were a couple of skylights on the roof and they were both open, so maybe the cat had come out of one of them. She smiled softly and started petting the small creature.
"Oh, bonsoir petit chat noir, how are you doing tonight, mon minou?"
She hadn't even realised what she had said, until she heard Adrien's—uh, well, Chat Noir's voice at her side.
His voice was still a bit groggy, but she heard it loud and clear. "I'm as pawsome as I can be. I always am when I'm with you, M'lad—" He had playfully leaned on his back to give her a flirty look, a gesture that was so typical of her black clad partner that she could almost see his ears and blond mane popping out of the snake's mask. That's when he froze, gasping so loudly it echoed in the emptiness of their rooftop.
Her gaze shot to him and she paled. His mouth gaped open, his eyes as big as saucers, his face as white as a sheet when he realised that she was holding a black cat, and that's whom she had been talking to. He was so deep into his thoughts that he had gone into auto mode. And somehow his auto mode had mistaken Marinette's voice for his Lady's.
"Shoot. Sorry, Marinette, I-I can explain. Uh, I mean, Multimouse." He put both hands at the sides of his head and roared in frustration. "UGGGHHHHH I'm such an idiot!"
Last thing he expected was hearing Marinette's crystalline laughter echo in the darkness. He sheepishly looked at her, his heart beating in his ears. She let go of the cat, who was starting to wiggle and demanding his freedom, and wiped the corner of her eyes.
"I'm so sorry, I don't know what to say." He looked down, his hands resting nervously on his thighs. "I will have to talk to Ladybug and explain to her what happened. I'm so screwed, she knows the identity of Aspik!" His fingers pressed in the flesh of his thighs as he said that.
Marinette put again a hand on his shoulder, trying to take him out of his self-induced panic mode. "Hey, hey, Chaton? Chaton please look at me. Listen!" This was all her fault. She had to clear the misunderstanding. She really had to. She held her breath, put a hand under his chin and lifted his head. When their gazes met, though, all her resolution faltered. There it was, the moment she had been waiting for. She HAD to tell him. She had to explain everything. For once, there was no akuma attack, nobody was trying to take pictures of them, everything was perfect. So… why couldn't she say a single word? It was as if her tongue had completely tied in her mouth, her heart had started to beat madly in her ears and her breathing had also suddenly stopped.
She was so not ready.
But she had to do it. It wasn't fair on him.
BUT… she was SO not ready.
She blushed profusely and looked at him in that cringe expression she always seemed to reserve for his civilian self. "I… I already knew that you were Chat Noir," she finally blurted out. His eyes became even bigger somehow.
"How? How did you know?"
She sighed. There you go. It was the time to let go of all the secrets. "Be-because a couple of d-days ago, in school, you sang me that song," she said, not even knowing how it was possible to talk with her heart in her mouth. "A-and you had sung it to me already just the night before, mon minou."
It took him a moment. He looked down, a big massive frown furrowing his brows. He played carelessly with the Miraculous he wore on his right ring finger for a very long time, too long for Marinette to bear. She couldn't breathe until the moment that he gasped in recognition and his gaze locked onto hers.
"So I wasn't wrong when I called you M'lady? You're Ladybug?" He grabbed her hands and held them tighter when she nodded.
Marinette couldn't believe how quickly the look of pure delight and joy brightened his face. As soon as she nodded, his panic disappeared in an instant. She had never, ever seen him this happy. EVER. He was so happy that it seemed to be bursting out of him.
"Can… can I hug you?" he asked and gave her a shy look. She barely managed to nod and he had already wrapped her tight.
"I'm so sorry, Adrien. I should have told you after I found out. I did try to… but between your schedule and the akumas and people keeping us busy at patrol, it's been almost impossible. I tried so many times, but we were always interrupted. It had come to the point that I was desperate to talk to you. I didn't want to keep you out of the loop with this one, you deserved to know. I'm the Guardian after all, so I had a duty to inform you that you had accidentally revealed your identity. And then Sass had this idea, that we could have a much better opportunity to talk as Aspik and Multimouse." She broke the hug and looked him in the eye. "I'm sorry I lied to you to make sure you took Sass; I really thought it would be the only way to get some privacy." Her voice was cracking a little, but he put a finger on her mouth and shushed her.
"Shhhh, don't worry, M'lady. I'm the happiest cat—uh, snake—alive." He chuckled. "I finally know who my Lady is… and she's none other than the most beautiful and amazing girl I know." He cupped a hand on her cheek. "No wonder I fell for you twice."
Now it was Marinette's turn to open her eyes wide and gasp. "What?" she said in a choked whisper.
He blushed deep red, but his gaze didn't lose hers. "For a long time now I had realised that you weren't only a friend, Marinette. I actually doubt that you ever were. It's just," he lowered his gaze, "it's just that I thought that by loving you, I was betraying Ladybug and… I felt guilty, so I justified it in my head as you being only a friend. I had to keep you in my mind as only a friend because otherwise the guilt would eat at me. And I really tried to do it… but I failed miserably."
"Oh," was all she managed to say. She kept looking down because she couldn't lift her gaze, she was too afraid.
"Although I must say that I do feel a little hurt that you lied to me," he admitted. And that's when Marinette found the courage to look at him in the eye again.
"I'm so sorry… is there anything I can do that would make it up for you?" She didn't know where she had found the courage to ask. This left her in a very vulnerable position, but she knew that Adrien would never take advantage of it.
He gave her a look full of mischief.
Bloody hell, would Adrien really take advantage of it? Cheeky cat… uh, er, snake!
"You could exchange a lie with a… truth?" He winked at her, leaving her confused.
"What have you got in mind?" She raised an eyebrow.
He smiled. "Since I know your identity now, you could maybe tell me who the other boy is? So I can put my heart at peace and get some closure?" As he said that, his smile faded into a frown and he slouched his shoulders.
"Oh, um, wow…" Marinette hid her face behind her fingers. She DEFINITELY wasn't ready for THAT! "Can I have the spare question?" She laughed nervously and tensed like a violin's cord.
Adrien pouted. "Why, M'lady? What's the point in keeping hidden any longer? I know who you are now! Why keep it such a secret? Is he a guy I know?"
Marinette looked up. Then she looked down. Then she started picking at her fingers, and attempting to chew her nails for how uncomfortable she felt. Not that it worked through the gloves of her suit, but she did try! Why was it so easy for him to say it but for her, even after all he had just said, it was the most difficult thing ever?
She eventually dared to look at him and his gaze was so soft that she felt like melting. She gulped and her throat clenched. "Adrien Agreste," she muttered so quietly that she was almost certain he wouldn't have heard, had he not been transformed.
But she wasn't that lucky (or maybe she was?) because he gave her a confused look and asked, "Yeah?"
She sighed and cringed, but muttered even softer, "It was, and it is, Adrien Agreste."
He gasped, sucking all his breath in. "ME?"
It felt almost exhilarating. As soon as he said that, it was as if a massive weight had suddenly fallen off her shoulders. And seeing his reaction, his surprise, the adorable blush that was dusting his cheeks…
"Y-you," she whispered and smiled nervously again, tensing her shoulders. "Although I must admit that recently it was getting more and more difficult to resist Chat Noir." She saw the happy smile that popped on his lips as she said so and cupped a hand again on his cheek. It was now or never. "Silly Minou. Can I kiss you?"
His smile widened, as he wrapped her into a hug. "I thought you would never ask!" he said as he pulled back and, without a second thought, pressed his lips to hers.
Fin
Notes:
(1) "The little breads kneaded with love are much better when they're fresh off the oven…". This is from the French version of Bakerix. I know that in English Marinette and her dad don't say words while humming this tune in the episode, but in French they do, and I needed to have actual words, so I went for the French version!
Author's Note:
Hi everyone!
Lately my friend Khan has been a bit down, so I decided to write a story for him with his favourite part of the square, SnekMouse. It has been really fun to write, I hope you will like it and drop me a note to tell me what you think.
If you read this and you're not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). See you there soon.