The Tube of Toothpaste
Written by: JuliaFC
Language Betas: Khanofallorcs, Agrestebug, Silver Wolf and LizzyBeth
Concept Betas: Etoile-Lead-Sama, Malauu_Ladynoir, Rosehealer02 and Genxha
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.
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Part 5 - No More Secrets
The following morning, sitting at his desk next to Nino, Adrien was looking pointedly at his watch and counting the seconds until 'storm Marinette' would run through the door.
"Ten, nine, eight…"
"What are you doing, mec?" asked Nino, as he leaned forward to look at his best friend's watch.
"Shh, just waiting for Marinette. Three, two, one…" When he said one, even more precise than the alarm on Nathalie's tablet, the second the bell that signalled the beginning of the lessons rang, Marinette bursted in the room. She tugged at the door handle, panting and huffing tiredly for the extreme exercise she had just undertaken.
"Wow, that's impressive." Nino shot him a funny look. "Since when've you been timing our Marinette?"
Adrien brought a hand to the nape of his neck and his cheeks dusted slightly in pink as he gave a furtive look at the little packet he had left on her desk and which had miraculously gone unnoticed, probably because Alya wasn't there today. Her little sisters were sick and she'd had to stay at home with them, Nino had said.
He expectantly watched Marinette closing the door behind her, muttering a 'sorry' and a 'good morning' to Mlle Bustier and hurrying to sit down at her desk.
To blink a couple of times in surprise and look at what was on her desk.
Trying his hardest not to be seen, Adrien kept peeking at Marinette from over his shoulder. He saw how she looked around in surprise, then picked up the little box, opened it, read the note attached to it, and gasped. He saw all the blood draining from her face, her eyes getting wide, her gaze darting around the room. That's when he turned towards her, a beaming smile stretching his lips.
"Are you alright, Marinette?" he cheekily asked. She locked gazes with him and a little bit of colour returned to her cheeks as she nodded. But Mlle Bustier cleared her throat and they had to return their attention to the lesson.
As if it was that easy! Marinette may as well have been a magnet, and him some sort of metal, because he couldn't keep his eyes away from her. He spent half of the lesson loosely doodling her name on the pages of his notebook and the other half stealing glances towards her. He couldn't help chuckling at the way she was still so flustered, as she kept on looking at the box and at the message inside it and darting her gaze around, her fingers fidgeting with the box, her teeth biting her bottom lip.
Eventually, he decided that he couldn't keep her in her misery. It wasn't fair on her and she would have every right to take away his Miraculous if he carried on with this. He sighed, put his school tablet down and, after a quick glance at Mlle Bustier to make sure she wasn't looking in his direction, he grabbed his phone and went to an app he'd downloaded for when he wanted to anonymously send messages to Nino (to avoid Nathalie's strict control).
He wrote a message to Marinette's number and hit send. When he heard the beep behind him, he gave a quick look over his shoulder. Marinette gasped seeing the anonymous number and frowned. Then, she started to type in a furious manner. He bit his bottom lip. Uh-oh… his Lady was angry…and he thanked his stars that he had put his phone on silent because as soon as Marinette hit send, her gaze narrowed and started darting around the room.
Adrien gulped. He eyed Mlle Bustier once more, but she was still writing on the blackboard and talking about the French Revolution. So Adrien dared shoot a quick glance at the messages on his phone, his heart somersaulting in his chest.
"Are you alright, mec? You look pale," whispered Nino into his ear.
Adrien nodded nervously and gave him as normal a smile as he could. "Peachy," he whispered back. Nino started paying again attention to the lesson. Adrien sighed in relief.
Anonymous: [Forgive me, My Lady! I didn't mean to find out!]
Marinette: [What's the meaning of this, Chaton? What happened? How did you find out? Where are you? Are you stalking me?]
Adrien paled further. No, no, no…he was making things worse!
Anonymous: [No, My Lady, I'm not…Sorry for the anonymous texts, I have to be careful with my personal phone, my activity is constantly monitored! I use this app to talk to my best friend. I'm not stalking you, I promise!]
Maybe I am hiding though, just a little…Adrien gulped. It wasn't right to keep this going any longer. As bad as it was going to be if he was honest, it was going to fall down on him tenfold if he kept her any more in the dark.
His heart went in his throat as he heard the low growl coming from behind him. Marinette was livid, he knew she was. Her gaze was as hard as it had been the time she had thrown him into the rubbish bin.
Marinette: [So where are you?]
He sighed, anxiety and dread filling his heart.
Anonymous: [What do you want me to do? Walk into your classroom transformed and sweep you off your feet?]
Another gasp from behind him, then more furious typing.
Marinette: [NO! But stop hiding!]
There you go. Death sentence coming.
Anonymous: [I'm not hiding. I'm sitting right in front of you.]
His fingers felt like ice as he hit send. He closed his eyes shut and gulped dryly.
Marinette gasped so loudly behind him that Mlle Bustier noticed.
"Are you alright, Marinette? You look pale," the teacher asked. "Marinette?"
Marinette gasped further. "Uh, oh, yes Mlle Bustier, I'm okay. Fine. Perfect."
The teacher frowned. "I still think you look pale. Why don't you go to the washroom? Let me see…you're the class president, Alya is off, so…Go with her, Lil—"
When Marinette heard the teacher say Lila's name, she stood up so quickly that she put her foot on the wrong side of the desk. Adrien could see, with the corner of his eye, the very moment she stumbled over her feet and lost her balance—and his instinct kicked in. He was there, his arms supporting her small frame. She was so light, she weighed nearly nothing, but the weight of what had just happened felt like an unbearably massive stone. It would be, until he got the chance to clear things up with her.
He heard her squeak. He saw her curling over herself trying to absorb the hit, her eyes closed shut in anticipation of getting hurt. But he was there already and when she realised he was, he felt her relaxing in his arms.
Maybe, only maybe…he still had a chance? Please…
When he saw her opening her eyes and quickly glancing in his direction, he flashed her a smile, and whispered in her ear, "Gotcha, My Lady!", hoping to make her relax further. "I'll always catch you before you fall."
But she squealed and balled over herself again, her face suddenly rivalling her Ladybug's suit in redness.
He blinked. And blinked again when she detangled from his arms and stood very abruptly.
"Marinette, what—" started Mlle Bustier, but Marinette let out a louder squeal and then stood stiffly, forcing a cringing smile to her lips and bringing a hand to the nape of her neck.
"Adrien! Yes, Mlle Bustier, Adrien can come with me. There's no problem. Right, Adrien?" she muttered at him, poking him in the ribs with a very well placed elbow as she shot a cringe smile at the teacher. He nodded almost automatically and smiled sheepishly.
"Adrien?" said Mlle Bustier, sounding even more baffled as she cocked an eyebrow at them both. "With you? To the washroom?"
Adrien suddenly felt his face getting very hot. Shoot. He'd forgotten where Mlle Bustier had told Marinette to go. And based on the colour of Marinette's face that very second, so had she.
"Aaaaaah—n-no, I m-mean, I'm n-not feeling very well, I think I…uh…sprained my ankle. Yeah. When I was falling a moment ago. Adrien can take me to…the nurse! That's where I wanted to go…" She cupped her hands to cover her face and muttered something that sounded very much like, "Please kill me, now…"
Adrien let out a chuckle hearing her saying that, but almost immediately, he noticed that Marinette must have forgotten her excuse, because she had just taken two steps forward without pretending to limp. He eyed Mlle Bustier; the teacher had raised another eyebrow and was folding her arms over her chest. So he did the only thing he thought was suitable in the heat of the moment. He leaned down and swooped up Marinette by the back of her knees and by her back and pulled her to him, ending up holding her bridal style. Marinette's impression of a mouse's squeak was eerily accurate at his gesture.
"Wha—" she muttered, but he shushed her away.
"I think we'll be faster like this, Mlle Bustier. I'll look after her."
The class boomed in a massive cheer that shocked Adrien. Everyone except Lila and Chloé, obviously. Lila was seething in anger, Chloé looked disgusted and ready to faint. However, one voice raised over everyone else's. Well, at least it did for Adrien.
"Go, Buttercup! I didn't know you had that in you, Agreste!" shouted Alix from the back row.
Adrien felt his face getting even warmer, as he heard Marinette utter a dull gasp and bury her face deep into his chest. He chuckled nervously. "Uh, so, well, I'll see you all later," he said and started walking to the door, trying to pay attention to where he was putting his feet. The fact that his legs felt like jelly didn't help. Not one little bit. Soon he reached the door of the classroom, and when Mlle Bustier opened it for him to help him get out, he shot her a grateful look.
"Make sure she doesn't have anything broken," said Mlle Bustier with a wink and a smile that gave Adrien the impression that the woman knew perfectly well that there was nothing wrong with Marinette's ankle…
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When they were far from prying eyes, Marinette's face emerged from his chest and Adrien gulped dryly—his Lady wasn't happy. She wasn't happy at all.
"Put me down," she muttered, a little curtly. He immediately obliged and she grabbed his hand (why was the room suddenly so warm?) and started walking towards the locker room. They walked in, she looked quickly left and right to make sure that the place was empty and then she turned towards him to whisper into his ear, "Let's transform and reach the rooftop. It's more private."
He nodded and looked left and right as well. Again nobody was in sight, so he muttered his transformation phrase and saw Marinette's eyes opening wide. "Makes it more real, huh?" He smiled softly as she nodded. She looked so tense! He grabbed her hand and saw her jump out of her skin. So he brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles; he looked her in the eye and said with a little bow, "Your turn now, My Lady."
His flirting seemed to calm Marinette down. The girl rolled her eyes and followed his lead, changing into the polka dotted heroine in a dash of pink that left him breathless. "Wow," he muttered. As she smiled a sly smile, Chat Noir was nearly certain he'd seen a flirting gleam flashing through her eyes.
"Follow me," she said. He gulped, unsure of what to make of all this, and gladly did as he was told.
When they reached the rooftop and found a private corner, she released her transformation, waiting for him to do the same. Then, she turned towards him and shot him a killer glare, folding her arms over her chest.
"Uh," he muttered, his hand reaching immediately to the nape of his neck. "I'm so sorry, My Lady. I didn't expect to find out. It…just happened!"
But he felt himself getting more and more anxious, because Marinette just stood there glaring at him with her arms folded and tapping her foot on the floor. Silence wrapped around them making the atmosphere on the rooftop become so heavy that you could easily have cut it with a knife. Adrien looked down, eyeing Marinette's face from time to time while rubbing his neck nervously.
"How did you find out?" she asked eventually, her voice almost echoing in the silence.
The flush of heat that reached Adrien's face didn't leave him any doubt about the current colour of his cheeks. "Uh, your Maman."
"What about her?" she pressed, raising an eyebrow.
"She found me the other day in Place des Vosges. I was…" He looked up, his heart taking a painful somersault in his chest, his cheeks feeling even warmer. "...upset," he continued. "She tried to cheer me up and asked me what was wrong, so I told her in general terms."
He glanced at Marinette; she had lost her glare and was now looking at him with sorrowful eyes. He didn't know which was worse.
"That's how she figured me out, then. What did you tell her exactly?"
"She figured you out?" He blushed deep red when she pouted. "Uh, shoot…"
He lowered his gaze. "It was a couple of days after Papillon stole the Miraculouses and I was terrified. Upset. I…can't even find a word to describe how I was feeling, Marinette, I'm really sorry. I got out of the car and had to get some fresh air, I couldn't stand going back to the mansion in that state. Your mother found me and…I broke down. I didn't mention names; I just said that the person I work with keeps pushing me away and things like that."
Marinette now had a nervous smile plastered all over her face. "Did you?" she asked sheepishly. "That's what I said as well. No wonder she understood. I have a feeling she figured you out too."
"It wouldn't surprise me, your mother is clever." He sighed. "Anyway, she told me about the tube of toothpaste and, well, when last night you told me that your mother uses that analogy, I kind of made the connection. Sorry!"
"That's why you nearly fell off the tower?" She laughed when he nodded.
"But you should know it, My Lady. Buttercup fell for you a long time ago." He gave her a wink, but his smile died on his face when he noticed the terror in her eyes. He paled.
"It—it makes sense now," she said shakingly, her right hand clenching strongly to her left arm, her gaze dropped.
"What?" he asked, although he had a feeling that he knew what she meant.
Her watery gaze shot up, searching for his, her bottom lip quivering. "Chat Blanc. How you found out my identity." She let out a sigh. "I thought that Adrien had told my identity to Nino, who then had told someone else who then had told someone else until it had reached Chat Noir's e—" But she stopped at Adrien's gasp.
"You know I'd never—"
"I know now! But before, without context, I thought…" she interrupted him, her hands reaching for the sides of her head, her body starting to rock back and forth.
Adrien grabbed her hands in his, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin, her dilated pupils shrinking slightly as her gaze focused on him. "You see, Marinette? That's exactly what I was talking about last night. You don't know the context. I was an akuma! I could have lied to you! Papillon is a master at twisting people's feelings against you, we've seen it happening too many times to doubt it. I don't know what could have gotten me so upset to cause my akumatisation, but…I can tell you here and now. Loving you definitely would not. I love you so much, Marinette. The mere thought of losing you would butcher my heart worse than stabbing it with a knife."
She lowered her head and nervously moved a lock of jet-black hair behind her ear. "Even after all I've done to you? Even if it's…just clumsy me?"
"Even more so, now that I know how amazing you really are underneath that mask." He cupped a hand to her cheek and she noticeably gasped as he did so. He saw how she shot a quick glance to his face and how flustered she became the very second their gazes met. How hadn't he noticed that before? Now that he'd joined the dots it was so clear. He smiled softly at her, causing her face to take an even deeper shade of red.
"It was some time that—uh, in fact…" As he said so, his hand left her cheek and grabbed his own shirt. Marinette looked at him, confused.
"Plagg?" he said, the shadow of a grin curling the corners of his mouth. He waited for the black little furball to pop his head through his top. "Would you tell Marinette what happened when I came back home the last time we faced Glaciator?"
Plagg started floating between them and flicking his electric gaze from his face to Marinette's. "You mean when you restored the pictures of Ladybug you had deleted only hours before, and when I questioned you about it, you said that Marinette had opened your eyes?"
Adrien huffed and frowned. "No, later that night."
Plagg was a little shit. He knew perfectly well what Adrien was talking about, and Adrien could tell from the way the little God's eyes gleamed of mockery when he pretended to think carefully about it at his question that he was going to make it as awkward as he possibly could to say whatever he was going to say. He waited for Adrien to pout, and only then a little smirk popped on his lips, making the tiny fangs in his mouth shine through like two little pearls in an ocean of black.
"You mean when you weren't able to sleep and didn't stop turning and tossing in bed and kept me awake?"
Maybe asking Plagg really wasn't a good idea. "Uh…" he muttered, his whole face and neck feeling suddenly very hot, but Plagg's smirk widened.
The kwami turned towards Marinette, his little muzzle taking a contrite and almost annoyed expression. "The things I have to suffer, Pigtails." He dramatically raised a tiny paw to his forehead. "Cats need their beauty sleep. But no…he wouldn't let me. I wonder how you didn't hear his sighs from your house. A sigh here, a sigh there. And then, 'Plagg, I wonder who that Buttercup is'. Then even more, 'Plagg, just imagine if it was me.' And again, when I had nearly fallen asleep, 'Wouldn't that be great? Being loved by Marinette…'. And don't look at me like that, you asked me to tell her."
By now, the blush on Adrien's face was surely rivalling Ladybug's suit in colour, at least based on how hot his face currently felt. But Plagg didn't stop there!
"And then, excuse me, but I reminded him that you had declared your love to him once, and how that had ended up. I didn't even manage to eat the cheesy treats your father had baked. And all he managed to say was, 'What an idiot I've been,' and he fell asleep." The black kwami tsk-ed. "A desperate case, I'm telling you."
When he dared shoot a glance at Marinette's face, he saw how flustered she was. Probably as much as he. But…he also saw the little grin curling up her lips, and his heart sped up, filling with hope.
"You really wanted to be Buttercup?" she asked, staring at her shoes.
Adrien looked up and rubbed his nape nervously. "Yeah. I…don't know when it happened, but recently I couldn't see you anymore as a friend, Marinette. I…think I never did but…I realised only recently. Maybe after that day at the pool? The fact that you're Ladybug is just the cherry on the cake."
Plagg seemed satisfied and zipped back inside his shirt to pick up a slice of Camembert cheese, which he proceeded to eat in just one bite. Then, he gave both a meaningful look and disappeared again inside Adrien's clothes. Silence wrapped again around them. The place was so quiet that he could hear his own breathing, and Marinette's too.
"It's the same for me," said Marinette in a low whisper, but not low enough for him to not hear it in the silence.
"What did you say?" he asked, causing the girl's face to turn scarlet.
"Uh, well, you know…" She looked up and shot him a nervous smile. "I told you how I was having nightmares with Chat Blanc and was keeping you at arm's length and had asked you not to flirt with me anymore because I didn't reciprocate your feelings…"
"Aha?" This time it was his turn to fold his arms over his chest and raise an eyebrow at her.
"When you left your Miraculous, Plagg went to look for another holder. Apparently Master Fu had a second choice when he picked you or something."
He nodded absentmindedly again, exchanging a worried glance with Plagg.
"Well, I met him before you came back. He was—" Marinette sighed and rested a hand on her cheek. "Perfect…" She kept staring at the sky with a dreamy expression and stayed silent for a while. For such a long time that Adrien coughed politely.
"Oh, sorry!" she said, as if coming back from a dream. "Well, when I met him, Papillombre had created a cat sentimonster using a child's piggy bank and…I know it's stupid and I'm sorry I even thought that but…I saw the bell on the cat and I-I…thought it was you." She blushed deep red up to the base of her neck when she saw him blinking silently at her and eyeing Plagg. "I know, I know, how did I mistake my partner for a piggy bank?"
"Um, Marinette?" tried to say Adrien, but she wouldn't listen to him and just continued,
"No, don't say anything, I realise it was really silly now. But I was so scared you'd get akumatised over that; when I saw the bell…"
When Adrien saw the tears worming their way out of her eyes he just leaned in and hugged her again. "Marinette, I'm sorry, you shouldn't have gone through that, it was all my fault!"
"No!" she said breathlessly. "You had all the right to give up your Miraculous after how I had treated you. But…that's not what I meant. I—I tried to work with Cat Walker, that's the name the other boy had chosen. And I swear to God, Adrien, he was perfect. He did everything right, but…I could only think that he wasn't you. He was too perfect, too…clinical. Almost fake." She didn't notice how his face flushed red at her words, because she was looking at her hands. "That left me confused."
"What were you confused about?" asked Adrien, as his face returned the usual peachy colour.
"I can't deny that I, well, was a little distracted by Cat Walker. He was…too good to be true and…" She became the colour of Ladybug's suit. "He had an effect on me."
Adrien raised an eyebrow. "You mean you…liked him?" His eyes opened wide when Marinette nodded.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, I don't even know how I'm finding the courage to tell you this but, well, we said to be honest and I want to be. I did like him, but…that made me realise that…he wasn't you and…I needed you. I was so confused." She hopelessly hugged her own arms. "Then I spoke to my Maman and she told me how she fell in love with my Papa and…oh Gosh, my Papa was exactly like you. Puns and all. I couldn't believe it."
"That's when she told you about the toothpaste?" he asked with a grin.
She nodded. "Yeah. And that's also when I started to realise that, maybe…I'd fallen in love with my Chaton too." She saw the first few tears pricking out of his eyes and wiped them dry with her fingers.
"What if Chat Blanc happens again?" she eventually asked, breaking the silence with her hoarse voice. "Especially now that we're at our lowest; it would be devastating!"
He grabbed her hands once more. "I can't promise you it won't happen. We both don't have context and I haven't even seen it. I—" He gulped dryly. "I can't believe you had to deal with something as terrible as that on your own. Why didn't Bunnyx call me too? I could've helped, and you wouldn't have needed to deal with it, and the aftermath of it, completely alone!"
Marinette threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight. "The less we know about our future, the better. And Chat Blanc…he had no filter. He was calling me by name; I don't think he would've kept his mouth shut even if you had been there too. Probably Bunnyx thought it was going to reveal too much to us, if you had been with me. Or maybe she thought he would have gotten angry and triggered the end of the world. He nearly did it, even with just me there. I don't know."
She moved a little to look him in the eye and dried a stray tear from his eyes. "But one thing is for sure: I won't hide anything from you ever again, Minou. I love you."
Adrien smiled brightly. "I love you too, my Marinette!" He hugged her as he said that, and they stayed wrapped into each other's arms, for comfort, for a long moment. But then, he broke the hug and grinned at her sheepishly. "Although, since we're being truthful, I too have a confession to make."
The way she cocked her eyebrow and looked at him made his legs turn like jelly, and so did the way Plagg moved inside his shirt, as if he knew what Adrien was going to say and was trying to stop him. But he couldn't leave that secret hanging between them, not now that they had cleared up everything.
"I'm all ears," said Marinette with a frown.
He gulped dryly and loosened the collar of his top unnecessarily. "Well, you know how you thought Cat Walker was perfect and he knew everything about the fight and Plagg had been a great coach?"
Marinette's gaze turned hard. "I haven't told you all that…"
He pursed his lips and then smiled sheepishly as she opened her eyes wide in realisation and immediately after, slapped his arm with a growl.
"I can't believe you! It was you? You? How…?" She stomped her foot on the floor.
He had to signal to her to calm down with his hands, and shush her a couple of times, but although she eventually stopped shrieking, her glare was very fierce.
"Plagg was a great coach…we spent the whole afternoon working at it and eventually it happened. We basically made your dream Black Cat holder. We thought it was what you wanted, but…it wasn't."
She punched and slapped his arm again. "No wonder I got so confused. For God's sake, Adrien, did I fall in love with you three times?"
He held his arm where she punched it and glanced at her sheepishly, his hands joined in a prayer gesture. "Well, I did find Multimouse very cute when I saw her that one time, so… I think we're even!" He shot her such a guilty look that Marinette blinked at him, once and then twice, and eventually burst into laughter.
"I can't believe you…if this doesn't mean that we're meant to be, I don't know what does!"
They laughed until their belly ached and eventually, Adrien wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes and gave her a wry smile. "So…will you mind my compulsive itching to keep my tube of toothpaste tidy and push it from the bottom?"
Marinette giggled. "As long as you don't mind me making it untidy. As you saw yesterday, mine is all twists and turns!"
"You know what I think?" he said as he cupped his hands on both of her cheeks and leaned in. She shook her head ever so slightly, her eyes opened wide, her gaze locked into his. "We can have one tube of toothpaste each!"
As he tried capturing her lips with his, he felt her chuckling, and he couldn't help but start to laugh. He leaned into her, pressing his forehead to hers as they both broke into a fit of giggles, until she met his amused gaze with hers, now also shining with mirth.
"I think it's a great idea," she said and her lips finally met his.
Fin
Author's Note:
Hello everyone! So that's the end! I hope you liked it :) And before you ask, yes, a big, fat, huge thank you to Buggachat on t - u - m - bler for this comic: post/674408517397053440/im-not-over-this-i-dont-think-ill-ever-be-over that inspired in a part of my brain the Cat Walker conversation ^^.
Anyways, hope you are happy with how everything turned out to be and that you didn't spit some of your drink during the classroom scene XD it just came out of nowhere, I think the characters really wanted to do it.
As usual, 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). Also, I recently joined another wonderful server! Even this one is friendly and there's a lot of wonderful people to discuss Miraculous and fanfictions with, so…now you get two invites :D Miraculous Discordance /QwgKdUhJNJ (discord dot gg slash QwgKdUhJNJ). I wait for you in one of these servers :D
