"Shoot shoot shoot," Ladybug muttered under her breath as she dragged Chat Noir through the halls of her school in search of a place to hide as each miraculous chimed its last warning.
This was so not how she had planned to spend her lunch break.
Her partner panted beside her, struggling to keep up with her feverish pace. "Why didn't your magic dissolve the glue, my lady?"
She threw up her free hand—the one that wasn't currently attached to Chat with the aforementioned glue—in frustration. "I don't know! This has never happened before." She continued barreling through the empty halls, thanking her lucky spots that there were no students wandering around to witness the ridiculous sight. In what Ladybug was sure was an instance of Chat's bad luck overpowering her good luck, the akuma—an art teacher enraged by the proposition of reducing the number of art classes offered at her school—had gotten in a lucky shot and managed to glue her right arm to her partner's chest. For whatever reason, her usual magic hadn't made the bond disappear, and now she was forced to find a place for them to hide before they de-transformed in front of anyone and risked their secret identities.
Surging somewhat less than gracefully around a corner, Ladybug scanned the hallway for any possible shelters. Desperately yanking on the handle of a door leading to a janitor's closet, she sighed in relief as she felt it give and shoved her way inside. Her partner was tugged along by her force, and when she suddenly stopped inside the room he unwittingly launched on top of her, landing them on the floor tangled up in each other.
Just as the door thunked closed behind them, two beeps sounded and simultaneous flashes of pink and green light filled the room, signaling the end of the heroes' transformations. Marinette snapped her eyes shut, keeping them closed even after the bright lights had faded, not wanting to chance accidentally catching a glance of her partner's civilian form and hoping that he had thought to do the same. In the now-silent closet, she could hear small voices whispering above them—The kwami, she realized—sounding as though they were having an argument as they slowly floated out of earshot.
The teens stayed in silence like that for a moment, not sure how to handle such a delicate situation. Marinette waited until her breathing had slowed down and her heart was back to beating at its normal pace. Or, mostly normal, she thought to herself in annoyance. Why was she getting so worked up by this scenario? It was just Chat. She couldn't deny, however, that butterflies had manifested in her stomach when the boy had landed on her and enveloped her in his arms. I'm sure he was just trying to lessen the impact of the fall, she chided herself unconvincingly, doing nothing to clip the wings of the butterflies.
"Uh, my lady?"
Chat's tentative call broke her out of her thoughts and she shook her head, trying to get her mind working properly again. "Yes?"
"I think we're un-stuck now, so if you'll let go of my shirt, I can get off of you." A teasing lilt entered his tone as he continued. "Or we can stay like this, whichever you prefer."
Marinette huffed in fake annoyance, not about to let the quickened pace of her heart compromise the cool attitude she'd exhibited around her partner up until this point. Quickly, she let go of his shirt—which she hadn't even realized she'd grabbed—unconsciously smoothing it out and letting her fingers roam over the edge of the collar to brush against his skin.
The boy shuddered, freezing in place as her hand continued to wander, lightly tripping over his shoulder and traipsing down his upper back, feeling the muscles beneath the fabric. Marinette wasn't sure what had come over her. She usually made every attempt to stay out of situations that involved potentially revealing their identities or Chat's romantic advances, and yet at this very moment she was the one instigating things. She was playing a very dangerous game, and it shouldn't be happening, especially considering that she already loved someone else.
She knew this, and yet she couldn't stop.
Her heartbeat quickened as she drew her fingers back across Chat's shoulder and slid them carefully up his neck, listening as he took in a shuddering breath. She paused when she brushed against his jawline, not sure if she should venture any further. As much as she didn't want to see his face, she was desperate to feel her way across his features in this darkness, mapping out every dip and curve in her mind. When she realized the reason behind her deep interest in him, her heart all but stopped.
When did I start feeling this way? Marinette wondered as she ran the tip of her index finger along her partner's jaw, not daring to venture closer. When did I start feeling the same things for Chat that I feel for Adrien?
But then, did it really matter? She hesitated, not sure what to do as her heart was pulled in two directions.
In the end, Chat Noir made the decision for her. Gently, he unwrapped one arm from around her, lifting his hand to cover hers and gently bringing it up to rest on his cheek. He remained still as she fluttered her fingertips over his temple and down his nose, briefly brushing over closed eyelids before finally resting on his lips.
She paused, feeling her pulse pick up as Chat's warm breath blew softly over her fingertips. Unconsciously, her tongue flicked out and swept over her own bottom lip as she suddenly realized how close they were.
Marinette was startled by the sudden movement of Chat's hand as it gently landed on her cheek, thumb stroking her skin briefly before he followed the same path around her face that she had traversed on his previously. She struggled to keep from twitching as his fingers brushed over her eyebrows, sliding down the slope of her nose and dancing past her lashes before settling to rest on her lips. She was sure she blushed as she heard him gasp softly, tips of his fingers tracing the shape of her mouth before his thumb settled on the very corner, fingers splayed to cup her cheek.
Marinette quickly moved her hand on his face to copy his position, holding her breath as she felt him lean towards her ever so slightly and letting it out in an annoyed huff when he hesitated. She slipped her hand farther back to cup the nape of his neck, gently tugging him down until their faces were only centimeters apart.
"My lady?" Chat breathed with a shudder, desperately wanting to close the gap between them but still disbelieving that this was actually happening. He was certain that at any moment he would wake up to the sound of his alarm, snuggled close to his Ladybug body pillow.
"Mon minou," Marinettte murmured back, pulling his face towards hers until their noses bumped.
Slowly, they each shifted, tilting their heads until their lips just touched. Marinette sighed in expectation as their lips brushed gently, anticipating the long, slow kiss that was coming.
The door burst open, nearly slamming into the startled teens on the ground as light flooded into the room. Chat jerked up, holding himself above the girl below him as they both turned to look at the intruders. Marinette blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the sudden shift in lighting, blanching when she saw who stood at the entrance.
"Woah, dudes, get a room," a familiar voice snickered.
Alya stood next to Adrien's best friend in the doorway, looking like the cat that ate the canary. "Nino, clearly they already have one." She crossed her arms, cocking an eyebrow at her entangled friends. "Now, Marinette, Adrien, do either of you want to tell us what you've been up to in here while we've been looking all over for you?"
At the sound of their real names, the heroes' heads jerked around to face each other again, almost causing their chins to collide in their haste. They stared at each other, taking in the secret identities that they were never supposed to reveal. At least, not like this.
Marinette's face began to transform from white to a dark red. She knew she should be in more shock about Adrien being Chat and vice versa, but she was still stuck on what had happened moments before. I kissed Chat. And now Chat is Adrien. So I kissed…Adrien?
Brain overload.
"Okay, since you two are obviously too flustered to speak now that we've caught on to your little tryst, at least get up so we can get to class." Alya tapped her foot against the floor impatiently. "I don't want to be late."
Adrien nodded slowly as he pushed himself off of Marinette. He offered her a hand up without meeting her eyes, and she accepted it without looking at him either.
As their hands touched, Marinette felt a surge of heat flash through her body. Her face flared red once more as she was again reminded of what had transpired, and suddenly it was just too much for her to handle. She needed to escape.
"I-I'm not feeling well." Marinette wrapped her arms around her stomach as she slowly began to edge her way out of the closet, extremely thankful to feel Tikki slip unnoticed up the back of her jacket. She stepped backwards into the hall. "I think I'm gonna g-go home." With that, she spun on her heel and dashed towards the exit as fast as she could.
Adrien stared at her in shock, his heart dropping to his shoes. He had finally found his lady—she even turned out to be someone that Adrien was already interested in getting closer to—and yet she seemed to want nothing to do with him. He looked down at the floor, scuffing a tile with the toe of his shoe as he whispered mournfully, "She really dislikes me, huh?"
Nino and Alya exchanged knowing glances, but silently decided against saying anything too revealing. Nino put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Well, considering what you were doing in there before we found you, I'd say that's not the case. The only way to know what she's thinking is to ask her, bro. I'm sure things will work out if you just talk."
Adrien shrugged sadly as he allowed himself to be steered down the hall to their classroom. He plopped down in his seat, unceremoniously flopping forward and resting with his cheek pressed against his desk, ignoring the teacher's annoyed cough as he did so. He thought back over what had happened with Marinette, cringing when he remembered the look on her face as she tore down the hall to escape from him. It had been a dream come true for him to find out that the person he had been pining after for so long was someone he was already friendly with, but the girl's expression told him that the whole situation was more of a nightmare for her.
The boy sighed, turning his head to rest his other cheek on the desk as he tried to think of what to do about the whole thing. I can't have my lady hating me, especially after I found out she's someone I already care about. He whimpered quietly. What if she didn't want to be partners anymore?
Adrien frowned. No way he'd let that happen. He shot upright, causing Nino to give him a strange look, which he waved off as he settled an elbow on his desk and rested his chin in his hand. Drumming the fingers of his free hand on the table, he thought about what his friend had told him earlier. Nino's right, we kissed earlier, and she was the one who started it. That has to count for something. He perked up slightly at the thought. Even if she hated Adrien, she clearly felt something for Chat, so maybe they could work it out somehow.
He nodded resolutely as he pumped himself up mentally, deciding that he couldn't give up on his love so easily. Determined, he decided he'd go over to her house that night to talk to her about it.
He straightened up and took his tablet out to take notes, which was a short-lived effort. After only a minute, his mind was stuck on Marinette again and he quickly gave up the idea of paying any sort of attention to the lecture. In the interest of looking like he was paying attention, Adrien spent the rest of his classes writing out an entirely too detailed plan for that night's encounter.
Marinette had been moping around her room for several hours, trying to find a way to entertain herself and distract her from her thoughts about the morning's incident. She'd tried sewing, watching a movie, playing video games, and even playing cards with Tikki, but nothing was working. All she could think about was that Adrien was Chat, and she had kissed Chat—Why on earth had she done that, anyways?—which meant she had kissed Adrien…and that was about where her train of thought stalled out every time. She still couldn't believe it, even hours after the fact.
Finding herself daydreaming about Adrien's lips on hers for the third time in as many minutes, Marinette brought her hands up to cover her face and groaned. "Tikki, I can't believe I somehow tricked Adrien Agreste into thinking he was in love with me."
Tikki tsked. "I'm sure you didn't have to trick him into anything. You're a lovely girl both with and without the mask, Marinette, and any boy would be lucky to have you."
"You're too sweet." Marinette stroked her kwami's cheek gently before moving her finger to gently tickle her tiny tummy. "It must be all the cookies you eat."
Tikki giggled, giving her charge a small kiss on the cheek. She opened her mouth to reply, but, before she had the chance, they were startled by a knock on the hatch that lead out to Marinette's rooftop balcony.
"What the…"
Tikki grinned. "It seems as though Adrien has come to sort things out. I'll leave you two alone." She gave Marinette another quick kiss on the forehead before flitting out of sight.
Marinette gulped, trying to swallow her nerves as she headed towards her bed to open the trap door. As she approached, she could see Chat's—Adrien's, she had to remind herself—concerned face through the glass. Biting her lip, she unlocked the door and tugged it open, silently beckoning the boy inside. He shut the door gently, following her down the stairs to the main area of the room. Hesitantly, he took a seat on her chaise as she settled in across from him in her desk chair.
They sat in silence for a moment, avoiding eye contact. Adrien's eyes roamed the room, taking in the various sewing supplies and shades of pink everywhere. Finally, his gaze landed on some familiar posters on the wall. When he realized their significance, hope thumped in his chest, his tail twitching in excitement. She has posters of me! he crowed internally. If she really disliked me, she wouldn't have those, right?
He desperately prayed he was correct.
With this new information in mind, the boy felt brave enough to venture uttering the first words into the silence that hung heavy between them. He cleared his throat lightly. "How are you feeling? Better than this morning, I hope."
Marinette stared at the black-suited boy in shock, her thoughts bursting out of her mouth before she had a chance to censor them. "How are you handling this so well?"
Adrien looked slightly taken aback, heart starting to sink again at the slightly hostile-sounding question. "Well, we're already friends outside the masks, so I kind of thought—"
"You think we're friends?" Marinette hadn't meant for the question to come out so sharply, but she was afraid of getting her hopes up.
His stomach twisted. "I-I mean, I always thought of you as a friend, even if we weren't very close. That's why I figured this might be a good thing." He hesitated, licking his lips nervously. "Did…did you not think so?"
Marinette dropped her gaze to the floor, absentmindedly rubbing her arm before shrugging dejectedly with a muttered, "I don't know."
Adrien's breath caught, heart crashing through the floor as she avoided his eyes. He gulped heavily. "I-I didn't mean to disappoint you with my identity, my lady. I'm sor—"
"Was any of it real?"
The boy was surprised by the interruption, only managing to utter out a confused "Huh?"
Marinette tugged on the end of one of her pigtails, staring at her pink-socked feet as she took a deep breath. "You flirted with Ladybug as Chat Noir and as Adrien, and you flirted with Marinette as Chat, but as Adrien you hardly seemed to know I existed. S-so what are your true feelings?"
"I…" To be honest, he wasn't sure how to answer. Sure, he had noticed Marinette was cute and nice, overall clearly a very likable girl, but he'd been so focused on Ladybug that he'd never given his classmate much thought.
He finally decided honesty was the best policy. "I don't know. I was so focused on my love for Ladybug that I never thought to give Marinette a chance. But now that I know that you're Ladybug, I feel like I was blind to not realize it before. You're so similar—obviously, because you're the same person—that I know that I could fall in love with you easily if I gave it a chance."
There was a moment of silence as a slightly pink Marinette digested the words, and Adrien waited breathlessly for her reaction. Finally she sighed, whispering, "Me, too."
"Wait, you—"
The girl blushed. "Well, obviously I liked Adrien, so I nev—"
Adrien choked on his own spit, coughing for a moment before wheezing out an astonished, "Wait, what?"
Marinette stared at him in confusion, clarity overtaking her features a moment later as she realized, "Wow, you actually didn't know?" As Adrien shook his head in bemusement, the heroine managed a laugh. "Geez, all this time I thought Alya and Nino were kidding about that, but it was true."
"Wait, so you really…" Adrien thought back over his interactions with Marinette since they'd met, suddenly seeing her stuttering and flailing in a new light. His jaw dropped slightly. "Oh my gosh. Everything makes so much more sense now."
Marinette giggled, getting out of her chair to join him on the chaise. She reached up and ruffled the boy's hair between his cat ears, murmuring affectionately, "Silly kitty."
Adrien shook himself out of his reverence, slapping on a dazzling grin. "I knew I'd manage to win you over, Bugaboo." He winked flirtatiously as Marinette put on a fake frown.
"I wouldn't say you won me over. As I was saying, I never figured out my exact feelings towards Chat Noir." She grinned teasingly, deciding to have some fun. "To be honest, he's a bit too cocky for my tastes. I prefer the real Adrien."
The boy's smirk slipped off his face. Quietly, he inquired, "And what if this is the real Adrien?"
Marinette took in the boy next to her, observing his black cat suit, ears, and tail. She pretended to think it over for a moment, keeping him in suspense even though she already knew her answer. "Kitty," she murmured gently, patting his arm reassuringly. "Given the kiss I started this morning, do you really think I haven't already at least somewhat fallen for both sides of you?"
In an instant, Adrien's brilliant smile was back in full force. "Great point, Princess."
The girl blushed ever so slightly at the nickname, biting her lip as she considered something. Adrien struggled to resist the urge to kiss her, not knowing if they were okay enough to go there yet, but hoping they would be soon. He desperately wanted to feel her soft lips on his again.
Marinette sucked in a deep breath, catching his attention. She reached back up to her hair, twisting dark strands together as she tried to calm her nerves, reminding herself that this was Chat she was talking to. She needn't be nervous around her best friend, her partner. She took another calming breath. "Y-you wanna come over tomorrow after school? We can play Ultimate Mecha Strike and eat pastries until we get sick…or something."
A date! Adrien grinned devilishly. "That sounds paw-sitively claw-some, Bugaboo."
"Nope." Marinette shot up off the chaise, pointing a commanding finger towards the hatch in the roof. "How dare you sully Adrien's perfect lips with such a horrible pun. Get out of my room."
Adrien laughed, using his so-called perfect lips to press a light kiss to the knuckles of her outstretched hand. "As you wish, my lady." He grinned as he headed towards the exit, reveling in how much more comfortable the atmosphere was between them now.
With a salute, followed by a scoff from Marinette, Adrien bounded up the stairs and reached for the door. Then, pausing with his hand on the latch, he turned and quickly made his way back over to her side. Before the girl could scold him again, he pressed a sweet kiss to the corner of her mouth, teasingly murmuring into her ear, "Until tomorrow, Lovebug." Not waiting for her reaction, he dashed out into the night, whooping as he launched off of the balcony and into the air.
Back in her bedroom, Marinette flopped face-first onto her chaise, screaming into a pillow as she kicked her legs wildly. Once she had calmed down slightly, she rolled over onto her back to grin up at the ceiling, cushion clutched to her chest. She felt like she was dreaming—somehow, she and Adrien were mostly in love with each other, and they were having a date for crying out loud!
Never before had either of them had wished so hard for tomorrow to come faster.