Hello everyone! I'm back with a whole story this time, not just a oneshot! Crazy, right? I wrote this in the last few months, while finishing my Master's Degree and working fulltime, because I couldn't not write this apparently.
On the bright side, that means this fic is completed! I will post new chapters every Sunday. A huge thank you to my beta readers for this fic, S10 and LegendofBoo (who were both recruited through the Miraculous Fanworks Discord, go check it out). Enjoy Chapter 1!
Ladybug was a creative woman. She knew that the rules were important, and she tried her best to stick to them. However, on occasion, some careful maneuvering was necessary to, well, work around the rules. In many ways, it was like her lucky charms. A situation with rules, and then the introduction of something to work around the issue and boom, problem solved. So no one could call her out on her creative solution to the biggest rule of all-to not reveal her identity to Chat Noir. After all, as long as they didn't know each other's identities, that didn't mean they couldn't have a relationship.
From day one, she had been smitten with him. His easy-going manner, reassuring in her first flustered moments of being a superhero. The way in which he had her back no matter what. His roguish grin, and affectionate words. He, of course, returned all her devotions tenfold, and it did not take long for Ladybug and Chat Noir to be not only partners in crime fighting, but romantically involved as well (which all of Paris seemed to think was the best thing ever). Every "pound it!" was accompanied by a kiss. Ladybug and Chat Noir were truly in love.
"Love?"
The pair sat snuggled together on a rooftop overlooking the city, the night skyline picturesque before them, the crisp, cool air of autumn sending leaves swirling down the alleys below. Patrol usually ended with a cuddle session before the two parted ways for the night.
"Yes, Kitty?"
"I've been thinking." He paused, long enough that she lifted her head from where her cheek rested on his shoulder to look at him.
"Yes?" she prompted gently.
"I know we can't reveal our identities to each other," he stated. It was not a question, and he didn't meet her gaze as he said it, instead staring out into the night.
She sighed. "Yes. The Rule."
He paused again, and she returned her head to his shoulder, entwining her fingers with his and running her thumb across his knuckles. Below them, the lights of the city twinkled cheerfully. A minute passed, then she felt him take a deep breath, as if steeling himself for what he was about to say.
"I love you with every fiber of my being, and...I want to marry you."
She froze, thumb mid stroke. Slowly, she sat up, turning to face her boyfriend. "Chat, we've talked about this…"
"No, listen, I've been thinking about it." He looked down at her, turning his torso to face her, taking her other hand in his as well. "Ladybug, you've been my girlfriend for almost six years now. I love you, and I want to be by your side, in or out of the mask, forever. And I know that because of the rule, I only get the first option for now, but, I've been thinking, and, I think I know how to make it work."
A gust of autumn wind whipped around them, and Ladybug shivered, instinctively leaning into Chat for warmth. "Oh, Kitty. How on earth could we get married as superheroes?"
"Exactly that," Chat exclaimed triumphantly. "We get married as superheroes." He pulled his legs up from where they dangled over the edge, smoothly shifting to take a knee while keeping her hands in his. "Ladybug, will you marry me?"
"Chat, I- do you really think we could make that work?" The wheels were turning in her head, trying to run the logistics of a superhero wedding.
"I looked up the public records laws," Chat explained. "As long as we have someone discreet to be our officiant, once the record is in the hands of the government, no one would be able to disclose who we are. We would put our real names on the certificate, but not let each other see. We would be legally married as our civilian selves without even knowing who we were actually married to."
Ladybug shook her head in disbelief, the information processing in her mind. "That… could actually work. But what would we tell our families? They don't even know we're dating!"
Chat smiled. "We could just say that we're moving in with a roommate."
"Oh, but living together! How would we live together as superheroes?" Ladybug protested weakly. It was a tempting idea, for sure. She would give a lot to not have to say goodnight to her Kitty every evening.
Chat grinned cheekily. "Our costumes can be modified how we want, remember? As long as we keep the masks on, quantum masking will do the rest."
Ladybug thought it over for a while, looking out over Paris and running the idea through her mind. It wouldn't be breaking the Rule. They wouldn't know each other's identities. It would just be… a creative solution. Yes. That's it.
"Um, Milady?" Chat coughed. "Not to rush you, but my knees are getting tired."
"Oh!" she turned back to look at him, then with a smile flung herself at his neck, bowling him backward into a hug. She kissed him deeply, then whispered, "Nothing would make me happier than to be your wife."
True love has its perks. For instance, back in collegé, then lyceé, and even university, Marinette had found it easy to ignore other people's love drama, happy and secure in her own secret relationship. She had almost felt sorry for her classmates' romantic follies, and had had to try hard not to feel too smug about her own stable, healthy relationship. (Ignoring, of course, that she didn't actually know her boyfriend's name. Or where he lived. Or how old he was. But that was beside the point. Rules, after all.)
Her lack of love life at school didn't completely exempt her from the relationship drama however, and she was notably suspended one time after punching a bully in their class who wouldn't stop harassing the timid model boy. Adrien had tried to explain to the girl that he already had a girlfriend, but then the bully tried to kiss him, and well, the protective Ladybug in her came out. After the whole debacle Adrien had thanked her, and they had lamented together the trouble with dating someone who didn't go to their school.
"Everyone thinks I'm making her up!" Adrien exclaimed. "She's real, I promise."
Marinette had giggled, patting him on the shoulder. "I know the feeling. Don't worry, just another story about your crazy classmates to tell your girlfriend."
It was funny, Marinette thought. Chat Noir also had some crazy classmate stories from his school, wherever it was. The result of the incident was a pleasant acquaintanceship with Adrien, which ended up serving her well down the road as she sought to establish herself in the fashion industry, landing a job at his father's fashion house and still seeing him at work on a fairly regular basis.
Even with skipping the school drama of the early years, dating as superheroes could be difficult itself. Rarely did they have a planned date where an akuma didn't show up, as Shadowmoth seemed to take every opportunity to attack them in public. Less formal rendezvous often had to take place late at night, leaving them tired during the day. Over the years, frequent daydreams were made aloud from each of them about how nice it would be to know each other's identities and be able to hang out as civilians. But, the Rule remained, so they continued to be creative about how they managed their relationship. And now, with a secret engagement? More than ever, they had to be careful.
The wedding was held in utmost secrecy, just a couple months after Chat's proposal (after all, why wait?) The heroes approached the mayor, deciding that for all they had done for the city over the years, getting creative with the rule about personal gain meant that calling in a favor from the authorities wouldn't be that bad, after all, the city owed them. They requested the private use of one of the local council offices for one hour at the end of the workday, saying that they needed it for some important superhero matters. They picked one ahead of time that they knew had an elderly officiant, someone who was known for being a little forgetful.
"Sign here," coughed the old man, passing them some paperwork and squinting over the cluttered desk at them. "Red for the wedding, eh?"
"Traditional in some cultures," Ladybug remarked lightly, turning away from her partner to shield the paper as she signed her legal name. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Soon to be Marinette… well, something different anyway. For now, she'd keep her old surnames. She folded the paper over, leaving the other signature line visible, and traded paperwork with her partner. Chat Noir had done the same, signing the top line, folding it over, and leaving her to sign the bottom without seeing the existing name. She glanced over at the man who was, in a few short seconds, to be her husband. He was biting his lip in the adorable way he did when he was concentrating, as he filled out the paperwork. How tempting it was, in that moment, to simply turn the page in her hands over and know who she was marrying! But no, she had to stick to the Rule, and besides, she knew exactly who she was marrying. Her Kitty was her Kitty no matter what his real name was.
"All done," said Chat triumphantly, passing the last bit of paperwork back to the elderly officiant.
They waited with bated breath as the aged gentleman looked over the papers. Ladybug didn't even realize how nervous she was until Chat reached over to give her hand a reassuring squeeze. She looked over at him, beaming at her, and couldn't help but smile. This plan was crazy, and she was still a little uncertain of what they were getting themselves into, but they were moments away from making it work.
The officiant eventually gave a sharp nod. "Yes, everything seems to be in order. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs.-"
"Thank you so much," Ladybug hastily cut him off before he could reveal a last name. "We really appreciate it."
They left as swiftly as they had come, retreating to the rooftops hand-in-hand (thankful that it wasn't raining on this particular December day) only to collapse together in a rush of joy as the late-afternoon sun illuminated their brand-new union.
"We did it. We actually did it. We're married!" Ladybug exclaimed, rolling over on the rooftop to face her partner.
With a cat-like shoulder wiggle, he pounced on his new bride, peppering her face and neck with kisses. "We did it, Milady," he murmured into her ear, pulling back to gaze lovingly into her eyes. "We're married." His tender smile turned sly as he rolled away and sprung to his feet, scooping her up in the appropriate bridal-style. "Let's go home and get out of the cold, shall we?"
It had taken them a while to work out how to keep their living situation as a married couple within the rules. While they both had jobs, access to each other's finances would, of course, reveal their identities. They decided then, for the time being, to split payment of rent and such based on their income ratios (discussed in general terms of course) and hire an accountant to keep track of all the bills (and receive the mail on their behalf). Once they had solved that particular problem, they had separately scouted some potential options in their civilian lives, and brought the other to see them during the night. They had settled on a lovely little flat to rent for the time being, and it was to this home that they returned that evening.
Landing lightly on the convenient top-floor fire escape, Chat opened the window with a small flourish. "Welcome home, wife," he smiled, scooping her up once again and gracefully maneuvering into the flat. She stepped down lightly out of his arms, but leaned up to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth.
"Welcome home, husband." They beamed at each other for a moment, then Ladybug ducked her head. "I'm going to go freshen up," she said. Looking up at him from under her lashes, suddenly shy, she added, "I'll meet you in our bedroom."
In the bathroom, she released her transformation. "Tikki, can you believe it! We did it!"
Tikki smiled. "I'm happy for you Marinette. But don't you think you may have gone a little far with this?"
"What do you mean?" Marinette asked, splashing water on her face.
"It's very impressive that you've kept the identity rule for this long," Tikki remarked, floating just behind her shoulder. "But you're married now. Don't you want to know who Chat Noir is?"
"Tikki!" exclaimed Marinette, whirling to face her kwami. "We can't just break the Rule! Master Fu wouldn't have given it without good reason."
She grabbed her toothbrush (brought over earlier that day at a predetermined time along with her other personal (but specifically unidentifiable) effects), squeezed on some toothpaste and began to brush her teeth. "Besides," she added with a mouth full of toothpaste, "We've made it this far without a reveal. At this point I'm almost curious to see how long we can go!" As she rinsed and spat, she missed Tikki's exasperated facepalm.
Straightening up again, she turned to Tikki with a naughty smile. "Now, let's see about a suit redesign. I need one that can come off."
"Are you sad we didn't have a proper ceremony?"
Chat and Ladybug were lounging in bed after a long day of their various commitments. Work and an akuma attack had made the day busy enough. Then Ladybug had gone to dinner at her parent's, who had been missing her in the last month since she moved in with her new "roommate".
Ladybug looked up from her book at her husband, no longer engaged in scrolling through his phone, head propped up on one hand. "I haven't really thought about it. Are you?"
"I think a little," he sighed, rolling to his stomach. "I always daydreamed about marrying you properly. Fancy dress, all my friends, dancing, the whole nine yards."
Ladybug smiled, reaching over to scratch his head between his cat ears. "One day, Kitty. Once we've defeated Shadowmoth and we can reveal our identities to each other, we'll have a proper ceremony and invite all of Paris."
Chat purred at her ministrations, crawling up the bed to lay his head in her lap. "Sounds puuurfect, Milady. In the meantime, though, I wouldn't trade being married to you for anything."
They sat in contented silence, broken only by Chat's continued purring.
"Hey, did I tell you what Plagg was going on about the other day?" Chat sleepily yawned.
"Mmm?" questioned Ladybug.
Chat chuckled, turning over in her lap and stretching his arms above his head. "He told me that we're ridiculous to not have revealed our identities by now."
"Tikki's been saying the same thing!" Ladybug exclaimed. "Oh Kwamis of little faith."
"Right?" Chat chuckled. "Please, we're experts at this by now! We're not going to accidentally discover each other's identities at this point. We've got all our bases covered. Above all else, we've got to stick to the Rule."
Ladybug smiled down at him. "I love that we're on the same page with this," she murmured.
"Anything to protect you, love," he smiled back up at her.
She leaned down to kiss him. "Right back at you. We'll reveal our identities once Shadowmoth is defeated, and not a minute sooner."
Chat grinned mischievously. "After all, there's plenty of other things we can reveal in the meantime."
With that, he pounced on his wife, who quickly succumbed to his kisses and "other" reveals.
So, some backstory. This fic was supposed to be a oneshot crack fic. In fact, the first draft is still titled "Miraculous crack?" I was feeling like we would never get a reveal, and was wondering what would happen if we never did get a reveal. And suddenly, the oneshot turned into a whole story, the longest one I've written in like eight years. So here we are. Enjoy a bonus chapter 2, and see you next week for chapter 3!