Our Love Could Destroy Worlds

By EDelta88


"We don't cry because we are weak. We cry because we have been strong too long…"

"You're thinking about him again."

"Hm?" Ladybug prompted, coming out of her daze.

"The boy," Chat repeated. "You're thinking about him again."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "So, what if I am?"

Chat shrugged. "Nothing, just wishing I knew who he was so I could slap some sense into him."

"Eh?!" Ladybug squawked. "Chat, no!"

"What? Clearly, he needs it," Chat Noir chuckled, shaking his head. "I mean, you're out here with me. So, since I refused to believe you would fall for an abusive chienne-"

"Chaton William Noir!" Ladybug gasped dramatically. "You watch your patain language!"

Chat Noir rolled his eyes. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. Since he can't be doing this on purpose, he must be a complete idiot if you still have to daydream about him instead of waxing poetic about your last date."

Ladybug gave a little chuckle at that. "Be nice, Chat," she scolded. Then her face fell, and she released a little sigh. "It's not his fault that I'm such a coward when it comes to my nonexistent love life."

Chat made a dissatisfied noise deep in his throat, unconvinced.

A comfortable silence settled between them as they stared out at the lights of Paris, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Did I ever even stand a chance?" Chat wondered a few minutes later, breaking the silence.

"I really shouldn't answer that," Ladybug grumbled, shaking her head.

"Probably," Chat agreed with a distracted nod. After all, he knew full well that there wasn't an answer she could give him that didn't end in heartache. If she said no, his love for her had been hopeless from the start. If she said yes, he would torture himself for weeks with "What if?" and "Someday." Ignorance was bliss and all that. It would be wisest to let it drop, but… "I'm still curious," he sighed wistfully.

Ladybug peeked up at him through her lashes. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know," she reminded him, trying one more time to dissuade him.

"Yeah, but satisfaction brought it back," Chat chuckled. It wasn't quite a pun, but he'd take it.

Ladybug gave an adorable little snort. Then she sighed, her eyes drifting up to the clear night sky as she considered what to say.

Chat perked up, more than a little surprised that she was actually going to give him an answer.

"Probably more than just a chance," she finally admitted.

Chat stared at her in surprise. "Wait, really?"

Ladybug rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, really, you dork."

"But—you always shoot me down so fast! I thought…"

"I don't want to lead you on. You're my best friend, Chat. I couldn't do that to you," Ladybug sighed, shaking her head. "You quite literally know a part of me that I can't share with anyone else. What we have is special, but it can't be more because it's not safe for us to be more than friends. Even without the other boy, this—" she said, waving a hand vaguely at their suits, "—would make it impossible. Adding romance is just too dangerous."

Chat gave a disgruntled grumble at that, his feelings on the topic made clear long ago. "So, more than just a chance?" he prompted, leaning against his staff as he watched her.

Ladybug nodded, pointedly avoiding his gaze. "Without Hawkmoth? If there weren't some many things between us... I don't see why not. It would have been so easy too," she sighed, staring glumly at her feet as she kicked them in the open air. "If I hadn't fallen in love with Adrien first? If it wasn't for him and his stupid umbrella, I wouldn't have stood a chance."

Had she not been so preoccupied with her feet and been watching her partner, she might have noticed the way he stiffened up at her words and realized that she had crossed into dangerous territory… but she wasn't and she didn't.

Chat stared at Ladybug, wide-eyed as some unnamable thing roared to life in his chest.

A boy named Adrien?

A stupid umbrella?

No…

No, surely not.

There was just no way… but what if?

What if?

"Wait," he asked, the words escaping him before he could stop himself, "is this the same guy you said put gum on your seat?" He knew he shouldn't. He knew he shouldn't, but he needed to know.

"Yeah," Ladybug replied with a soft smile, oblivious to the trap she had just fallen into. "He found me after school and explained he was trying to take it off. He was so sweet after I was such a jerk to him and…" Her voice trailed off as her mind really caught up with the conversation. Slowly, Ladybug turned to Chat Noir, eyeing him strangely. "And I never told you about the gum," she murmured confusedly.

"No way" Chat breathed, staring at her in naked wonder. "There's no way I'm that lucky…" he whispered, taking hesitant steps toward her like she might disappear if he moved too quickly.

"Ch-Chat?" Ladybug stammered as he approached her. This wasn't his usual flirting. Normally he was more playful, more aggressive but always leaving her an easy escape. This? This was different. He wasn't playing at all. This felt so much more real. In fact, he almost seemed…

"So that's what happened with Oblivio," Chat murmured, a fond, faraway smile playing across his lips.

Reverent…

Ladybug tensed, eyes wide as she finally recognized the way he was looking at her. He looked reverent. It made her feel naked because he looked like he could see the truth—like he could see her, flaws and all—and couldn't be happier and she was not ready.

"Well, I did say I'd love the girl behind the mask," he chuckled, grinning like a loon. "Not many guys can say they fell in love with the same girl three times."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Ladybug demanded, scrambling to her feet and away from the edge of the building. "Chat, what's going on?"

"Oh nothing, just me coming to terms with the fact that I am, apparently, the dumbest guy on the planet," he lamented as he continued to stare at her. "I mean, seriously! Your transformation doesn't change a thing! You even act the same. Especially when you lose your cool. Oh, by all the little gods, I called you our Everyday Ladybug!"

Ladybug's eyes blew open in surprise. "Adrien?!"

"Hey Princess," Chat replied with an awkward smile as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Um… surprise?"

Her response was not what he expected.

He'd expected anger, shouting about how their identities were supposed to be secrets. It had been their one constant rule. He'd hoped for a happy reveal with hugs and laughter. Part of him knew it was unlikely, but he'd hoped all the same. He'd feared she would feel betrayed, that she would blame him for finding out and leave him. He'd imagined this moment a thousand times. Now that he knew, he half expected her to dissolve into giggles about how they were both so ridiculous. He had thought he was prepared. He thought that he knew what to expect...

He hadn't expected this.

His Lady didn't look angry as he'd expected. She didn't look betrayed or any of the other things he had imagined. There was no laughter, no shouting. Instead, she seemed to crumple, shrinking in on herself until she looked… small and fragile, brittle. She looked like the world was pressing down on her, crushing her and she could crumble at any moment.

No, this wasn't what he'd expected. This? This was much worse.

Ladybug took an involuntary step back as her features crumbled. "No…" she whispered in denial, backing further and further away as her eyes flicked wildly in every direction. "No, that's not fair. Not both of you," she whimpered, clutching at her face as she desperately tried to hold back her tears. First Chat Blanche. Then her failed attempt with Luka. Now Adrien too? Hadn't she done enough? Hadn't she given enough?

Why didn't she get to be happy?

How was this fair?

"My Lady?" Chat called softly, worriedly. Hovering close enough to touch her, to offer support, but not daring to invade her space.

"Am I just meant to be alone?" Ladybug keened, raging at the injustice of her situation as her small hands balling into fists, rubbing furiously at her watery eyes. "Why can't I have this one thing?" she demanded of no one in particular. "Just one good thing? It's not fair…"

"But you don't have to be alone?" Chat wondered, injecting a soothing timber into his voice, trying to comfort her. "I'm right here, Marinette. I'm not goin-"

"Don't call me that!" Ladybug cried, her hands falling to reveal red eyes.

Chat flinched. "M'Lady-"

"We can't, Chat! We can't know! We can't-can't this!" she cried, flicking a finger between the two of them before throwing her hands up in despair. "It's not safe!"

"Why not?!" he demanded.

Ladybug finally snapped.

"Because I've seen what happens!" she roared, her beautiful face twisted in rictus pain and fury. "Because our love destroys the world!"

Chat's eyes went wide in alarm, both from her words and her violent shift in emotions. "What-"

But his partner wasn't finished. Far from it.

"We aren't supposed to know! It's dangerous! You proved that!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, releasing months of pain in a string of vitriol. "I don't know how you did it, but you found out who I was and made me fall in love with you! Then Bunnix had to come and get me to fix everything cuz Hawkmoth found out-and now? Now you've done it again, you utter bastard!" Then her words caught up with her and her face cracked. "We fell in love once Chat and-and it all went wr-wrong," she sniffled, hugging herself as she fought the wracking sobs building in her chest as she remembered her broken friend sitting alone in a broken world, driven mad by grief and isolation. "I-I f-found you. I f-found you a-all alone in that wasteland and-and I-I c-can't be responsible for that, Chat! I can't!" she choked out, her words coming in gut-wrenching sobs as she struggled to breathe.

Chat stared at his friend in mute horror. She found him? Wasteland? What the hell happened? When? He didn't remember any of this!

"I c-can't do that to you, not again," she told him a moment before the shock got to her.

Chat's eyes blew wide open, rushing to catch his partner as her knees buckled, clutching her tenderly to his chest as she fell to pieces.

Ladybug screamed, burying her face in his chest as she howled in fury, grief, and defiance at the cruel joke that the world had made of their lives. She raged at the injustice of it, as she beat her curled fists against his chest. She released body-wracking sobs as she mourned the children and lovers they weren't allowed to be. She wailed uncontrollably, wordlessly begging for answers she knew would never come. After years of fighting, years of being strong, Ladybug finally imploded.

Adrien felt his own tears slip unchecked down his cheeks as he held her, propping her up and supporting her in the only way he could. Suddenly, he was very thankful for Ladybug's foresight to always hold meetings like this as far off the beaten path. This was private, personal... and it should stay that way. No one would find them here. No one would interfere… he'd make sure of it.

It didn't take long for the cursed butterfly to find them.

"No evil-doing for you," Adrien murmured, palming Ladybug's yoyo and swiping the akuma out of the air. "Not tonight."

If anything, his actions made Ladybug cry harder.

Adrien sighed, kissing the top of her head and stroking her back as he tried to think of a way to comfort her.

What could he do?

What had always made him feel better?

A half-forgotten memory of happier days drifted to the fore of his mind, just a voice accompanied by the vaguest feeling of warmth and safety.

Chat smiled sadly.

Yes. Yes, that would do.

Adjusting his hold on her, Chat Noir pulled Ladybug into his lap, cradling her against his chest. "Bonne nuit, cher trésor, ferme tes yeux et dors," he sang softly, just loud enough to be heard as he rocked her to the rhythm of the lullaby. "Laisse ta tête, s'envoler, au creux de ton oreiller. Un beau rêve passera, et tu l'attraperas. Un beau rêve passera, et tu le retiendras…"

Her anger was the first thing to subside, slowly guttering out as she pressed herself closer, clutching at him as she settled her ear over his heart, anchoring herself with the steady reminder that he was alive and well.

Encouraged, Adrien flicked his claws at her ribbons, releasing her pigtails so that he could gently card his fingers through her hair. "Bonne nuit, cher trésor, ferme tes yeux et dors," he sang, slowly raising his voice and letting it settle into the back of his throat. "Laisse ta tête, s'envoler, au creux de ton oreiller. Un beau rêve passera, et tu l'attraperas. Un beau rêve passera, et tu le retiendras…"

Slowly, ever so slowly, her tears petered out and her sobs tapered off into tremulous whimpers as her fingers fisted in the material of his suit.

'Thanks Plagg,' Adrien thought as the normally skin tight armor slackened beneath her fingers. "Bonne nuit, cher trésor, ferme tes yeux et dors," he sang, tenderly brushing away her tears, careful not to catch her with his claws. "Laisse ta tête, s'envoler, au creux de ton oreiller. Un beau rêve passera, et tu l'attraperas. Un beau rêve passera, et tu le retiendras…"

Adrien kept singing long after she had wrung herself out. He didn't know how long they stayed like that, just the two of them alone on that abandoned roof as he rocked her and played with her hair. All he knew was that she needed this, needed him.

"It's n-not f-fair," Marinette sniffled, feeling like a child in her partner's arms.

"What isn't fair, Marinette?" Adrien murmured.

Marinette shivered. "You," she protested, scowling up at him with bloodshot eyes.

Adrien blinked owlishly. "Me?"

"Yes, you. You ridiculous boy," Marinette answered miserably, her gaze falling as she returned to resting her cheek on his chest. "You keep changing faces and being so good and-and wonderful and making me fall in love with you! But-but I can't h-have you…"

Adrien's heart broke for her.

"A-and you l-love me, but I c-can't h-have you," the young heroine hiccupped, curling in on herself. "It's not fair."

"But why can't we?" Adrien whispered as he stroked her back. "Why can't we have this?"

"Y-you get a-akumatized," Marinette stammered, choking on the memory of Chat Blanc. "Everything was gone, Adrien. It was just water and rubble and you. I can't let that happen."

Adrien frown, staring thoughtfully into the night. "I don't think it will," he finally decided.

"You can't know that," Marinette whimpered. "You didn't see it! It was-"

"Bunnix isn't here."

Marinette went stiff like she had been rendered to stone.

Bunnix…

Bunnix wasn't here.

Then she was vibrating with nervous energy.

Bunnix wasn't here!

Her eyes flicked in every direction, tracking things the phantoms of her racing mind as she watched for the slightest sign of the Burrow. She watched ro the faintest hint of blue or white, anything out of place... but there was no sign of the Hero of Last Resort.

They'd learned each other's identities and Bunnix hadn't interfered! Which meant—

Which meant what?

What did that mean? What could it mean? Was it good? Was it bad? Was she waiting for something to happen? Was she not able to come? But Chat Blanche had been the worst-case scenario and she'd come then! Which could mean that this was okay! It could mean they were safe. Or it could…

"It could mean that we've already doomed the future," Marinette murmured.

"Good," Adrien replied simply, returning his claws to her hair.

"Good?" Marinette wondered, coming back up to stare at him incredulously. "Good?!" she cried, panic and anger and betrayal building in her chest. "We just realized that we might have started the end of the world! How could anything about this possibly be good?!"

"Because it means that nothing matters," Adrien whispered, never pausing in his gentle ministrations as he smiled softly down at her. "If the world is doomed, it means that nothing we do from this point on will change that."

Marinette went very, very still as he spoke.

"If the world is doomed, we're free," Adrien continued, holding her gaze as he continued to play with her hair. "And if it's not? If the world goes on? If we grow up and keep saving the world with a team of heroes? It means Bunnix is watching and hasn't stopped us."

Marinette's eyes flicked around wildly as her mind combed through the possibilities, dissecting his logic. If the world was doomed, what they did no longer mattered. They could be happy together for however long that lasted. If the world wasn't doomed, what they did or were going to do didn't matter enough for anyone to stop them and they could be together.

Maybe, just maybe… they had a chance.

"So, the way I see it?" Adrien mused, drawing her back to the present as he paused with his fingers tangled in her hair as he stared down at her with open, earnest eyes. "It means that, no matter how you slice it, this? Us? It's ours… if we're brave enough to take it."

Marinette's heart beat like a hummingbird's wing against the inside of her chest. This wasn't anything like her girlish fantasies where Adrien swept her off her feet and kissed her with reckless abandon as butterflies danced in her stomach. This wasn't like her books where electricity danced on their skin and their clothes fell off. Her breath hitched because suddenly she was painfully conscious of his fingers in her hair and his claws on her scalp. A pleasant warmth like her father's cocoa settled in her belly because, now that her mind wasn't clouded with panic and despair, she could feel every inch of him that was pressed up against her, wrapped around her like a security blanket. Here on this random roof in the middle of nowhere with the night air pressing in on them, she felt warm like she had come home from being out in the snow all day. Here in Adrien's arms, for the first time in months, she felt safe, but more than that?

What made her understand that there was no going back?

What made her really, truly understand... was the way he looked at her. As her body descended into silent chaos, she was mesmerized by the way he stared down at her like she was all that mattered. Like he would set the match himself and watch the world burn with a smile on his face if he could just hold her, be with her like this a moment longer…

But he didn't move. He didn't pull her closer like she expected him to. He didn't push her away like she always feared he might. He simply held her, cradled her, and watched her... waiting.

What was he waiting for?

It's ours… if we're brave enough to take it.

His words echoed in her mind and, if it was possible, Marinette fell in love with him all over again because he was waiting.

Because he was waiting for her.

The protagonists in her books would have kissed her senseless. They would have pulled her from her sorrows and devoured her, driving away all uncertainty in a moment of passion…

But not Adrien.

No, her boy, was patient. He listened as she screamed and raged and blubbered. He cradled her, guarding her as she fell apart. When he could have taken advantage and she would have welcomed his advances for the distraction from her misery, he sang to her and offered her comfort, building her up and putting her back together. Now, when anyone else would expect something, anything in return.

Instead of expecting some kind of reciprocity, he just... held her.

Instead, he was waiting for her to be ready.

Instead, he was waiting for her to come to him.

And she loved him for it. Because she wasn't ready. A thousand insecurities flitted through her head followed by a hundred thousand fears about how this could go terribly, horribly wrong. She was terrified… just like she always had been, but just like always, Adrien had given her exactly what she needed. Just like he had from the very beginning, during their battle against Stoneheart when she had been frozen by fear and indecision. She had been ready to fold just to make it stop, but Adrien had given her what she needed to act in spite of that fear.

She wasn't ready.

She was afraid, so terribly afraid...

But, for him? For Adrien, tonight she could be brave.

"Adrien?" she murmured, pushing past her doubts and insecurities.

"Yes, Princess?" he prompted, something like hope dancing in his eyes.

Marinette licked her dry lips. "Kiss me?"

A grin split his face like the sun parting the clouds. "As you wish."

It was a gentle thing, a chaste thing. It was no more than the softest press of his lips against hers. It wasn't like the stories. There were no sparks. There was no soulful connection. There was no sense of fate or overwhelming sensation, but it was theirs and it was wonderful.

And the world went on.


A/N