Adrien recklessly stayed up until dawn for the second night in a row. There was no way he would have postponed reading the precious response from his love, but he also felt the need to be responsible and finish the homework he had pushed aside earlier. At least Marinette was in the same boat.
Plagg floated over to the bed to crash on a pillow, and Adrien ripped open the packet to read in privacy.
(A/N: Adrien is reading this chapter which is written by Marinette.)
Multi-Mouse felt the first pulse of freedom as she bounded away from her balcony. No one knew Multi-Mouse, and in this form, she could just be.
Her mind was wracked with guilt from trying to outrun her responsibilities, but the wind invigorated her, and slowly the vise around her heart lessened as she moved above the city.
She smiled in challenge as she her favorite rooftop came into view. This apartment building had a flagpole on the front, and she ran full speed to the edge and used the flagpole to spring high into the air. She had closed her eyes to savor the feeling, but she let out a startled squeak! as she was snatched out of the air.
A mischievous chuckle echoed on the wind, and without even opening her eyes, she knew her captor.
"Naughty Kitten! You can't mouse-nap me! I won't be trapped in your claws," she called out defiantly but made no move to escape.
"Really, Marinette! You can't expect a Chat to chase a Mouse across the city without pouncing."
She twisted around in his arms, careful to keep ahold of his shoulders as she settled firmly on his back. She snuggled into his neck and murmured sulkily, "It isn't a fair catch unless the mouse knows she was being chased."
He laughed out fully as he continued running over the rooftops to their secret hide-away. The sun had already set, so they settled in to watch the stars, comfortably leaning against each other.
After several minutes of companionable silence, Chat mused, "I didn't know that Ladybug let you keep the mouse Miraculous. I figured she would have collected it after you were done last time."
Multi-Mouse looked away guiltily, trying to come up with a response that was both true and hid the truth at the same time. As she looked back into his eyes, the words died on her lips. She didn't want to speak the half-truth, even to hide. Instead, she breathed out, "I know."
She shuffled around anxiously waiting for his response. He murmured almost too low for her to hear, "When is she going to trust me?"
She threw her arms around the hurt Kitten and pulled him in for a hug. "Of course, Ladybug trusts you! Otherwise, I wouldn't be here with you."
"Unsupervised," he smirked arrogantly, and Multi-Mouse felt like he was flirting to cover his true feelings. Again, sigh. She quickly realized she was being sized up. He lunged for her, and she anticipated the move only by a hairs-breadth.
She pirouetted away gracefully and turned back to mock him, "Can't catch a Mouse unless she doesn't know you're following, huh?" She stuck her tongue out at him to taunt him, but she squeaked loudly when he lunged for her again.
Chat smoothly tackled the Mouse, and Multi-Mouse smiled at the victorious glee in his eyes. As they continued to lie there, his face morphed into wonder. He leaned down towards her lips, and her eyes slid shut reflexively. She waited, but instead of the kiss she wanted, his head fell onto her shoulder with a growl.
Multi-Mouse's eyes shot open in surprise to see Chat scowling at something in the distance. After catching the look on her face, he muttered an explanation, "Akuma."
She still couldn't hear anything, but his enhanced hearing could pick up sounds much further away.
He pulled her to her feet and leaned in to kiss her cheek instead. "Come on, Mari-Mouse. Ladybug will be here soon. We need to go help her."
Chat held out a hand to her, but she didn't take it. Her mind was racing at the disappointment of missing another romantic moment because of Hawk Moth.
I can't do this with Chat unless he knows my identity, she thought at herself furiously. It hadn't occurred to her that he might have transferred his feelings for Ladybug onto her. They had been hanging out a lot lately, but they were only having fun, right?
She watched Chat lower his hand in confusion, drawing his hand back to scratch his head. She loved that quirk; it was how she could tell he was being sincere.
"No, I can't fight like this," she replied, shaking her head at the daring thought. "Follow me, Kitty."
She jumped off the building without checking to see if he was following. She was terrified at what he would think, but she felt in her heart, "It's time."
"Time for what?" Chat breathed. He looked worried too.
Marinette called for Mullo to rest and gave a piece of cheese to her Kwami with a shaking hand. She took a deep cleansing breath and tried to keep the signs of trembling from her partner. "It's time for you to know who I am, Kitten."
He stepped closer and touched her cheek gently, "I know who you are, Marinette. I was there the first time you took off a miraculous, remember?"
She shook her head hoping to release some of the nervous tension in her body. It didn't help much. "That's not what I meant, Chat." She tried to portray confidence that she didn't feel, but her voice still trembled a little as she called out, "T-tikki! Spots on!"
As she transformed, he pulled his hand back like she had burned him. The look on his face hurt her, but she tried for humor to break the tension, "Ta-da!"
He took another step away from her, and she was afraid she was going to lose him. She put out her hand for him to take and said in a small voice, "I'm still me, Kitty."
The sounds of Parisians screaming was getting closer, and she was feeling the urgency to get out and fight. She wiggled her fingers in invitation, and Chat so slowly put his hand in hers. She squeezed his hand and commanded, "Let's go. We've got an akuma to defeat!"
He nodded and let go of her hand, pulling out his baton to follow her into the fray.
Throughout the battle, Chat was noticeably distracted. Ladybug rolled her eyes when she caught him staring at her again, but she was grateful for a straight-forward akuma. The victim had been akumatized through the weapon in his hand, which makes for a deadlier villain, but it took less brain-power to figure out where the akumatized item was.
When the villain charged at her distracted partner, Ladybug used her yo-yo to trip him up. Chat shattered the weapon with a well-timed Cataclysm, and Ladybug just cleaned up the aftermath.
Chat averted his gaze as Ladybug reached out her hand for their customary fist bump, and he started to leave immediately after since Ladybug's earrings started beeping. She called out to him, "Don't you want to talk about this?"
He shook his head and looked away again, "I just need to sort this out. Can I have some time?"
She was deeply disappointed that he didn't want to pick up where they left off when they were interrupted by the akuma, but she understood that it was weird for him to know who she was finally. She moved closer to him and murmured, "You know where to find me when you're ready to talk."
She put a consolatory hand on his shoulder and was relieved when he leaned into her touch a little. She bounced up and kissed his cheek gently, but her earrings beeped another warning. She left reluctantly, but she hopped only a few rooftops away and turned around. When she looked back at him, he was touching the spot on his cheek where she had kissed him, looking dazed.
She giggled, and his gaze met hers instantly. He blushed lightly and grabbed his baton to jump away.
