Chapter 30 – Reveal
Cat Noir's heart thrummed with happiness as he chased Ladybug through the night. The lights of cars and buildings flashed by beneath him. It didn't even feel like he was running or jumping or skipping or whatever it was his feet were doing.
He felt like he was flying.
Though she didn't need to, Ladybug glanced behind her frequently, making sure he was still following. Of course he was still following. He'd follow her anywhere. They both knew he would always be there, watching her back, but it made him feel watched out for, cared for.
And she was using each and every opportunity to throw him flirty winks over her shoulder, so there was that.
It was such a contrast to the last few days, when he was sure his powers of destruction had ruined everything. And now... Forty-one kisses. She'd kissed him. She confessed to him. She'd chosen him!
They passed over buildings and cars at a leisurely pace, and Cat Noir was content to let his Lady lead him while curiosity pulled at his attention. What was she going to ask him? To be her boyfriend? He flushed, and his baton shifted in his slackening hold ever so slightly.
But what if that wasn't her question? The glow vanished as quickly as it had come. Panic started to grip him, and his stomach clenched. What if she'd been expecting him to ask her out earlier, and now she was disappointed with him? Why didn't he ask her to be his girlfriend yet?! Or was that maybe already kind of implied?
Some part of him – he wasn't sure if it was more or less rational that the rest of him – almost expected her question to be "Can you please turn your alarm off?" and for him to be catapulted back into real life, where Ladybug was still mad at him and he was powerless to fix it. But the memory of how warm her lips had felt against his was real enough.
It was a testament to how distracting that particular thought was that he was that he didn't realize they were heading directly toward his house until Ladybug landed on his roof and turned around to blow him a kiss. He had just enough time to have a small heart attack that he'd somehow exposed his identity before she was throwing her yoyo and flying off again.
Stopping directly above his own bedroom, Cat Noir took several deep breaths to recover from the false alarm.
"You going to stand there all night?" she taunted. "Or are you finally admitting I'm faster?" Several buildings away, Ladybug lazily looped her yoyo in wide circles, though she scampered as soon as he started moving again. His enhanced hearing caught her breathless laugh, his mind simultaneously memorizing it and planning how to make her laugh like that again.
Ladybug had quite the lead on him. It wasn't until she reached his school that she stowed her yoyo around her waist. With his sharpened eyesight, he could clearly see her soft smile as she turned around and opened her arms wide.
She stood there and waited patiently as he got closer. Her arms stayed open the whole time, inviting, beckoning, calling him home. The truth that simple gesture spoke struck him all the harder because he wasn't expecting it.
She wanted him. She wanted him to know that she wanted him. Ladybug was willing to wait for him as he caught up to her, and do it with a smile on her face. How could a smile be so beautiful that it made him feel stronger even as it liquified his insides?
The siren pull of her arms became stronger the closer he got, and his pace became faster and faster. He was first vaulting steadily, then running across rooftops and throwing himself over streets. By the time he landed in front of her, he was going so fast that he tumbled on the landing and collapsed into her arms.
"Looks like someone missed me," Ladybug said, managing to keep them both upright.
Cat Noir made a noise of agreement that definitely didn't sound like a whimper as he sank deeper into her embrace, drinking in the sensation of being held, maybe even cherished.
It was overwhelming. All of it. How in love with her he was. The knowledge that she loved him back. The way she ran her fingers across his back and whispered reminders that he would never need to miss her again, that she would never let him be lonely ever again.
When he nuzzled into her neck in his need to be closer to her, she didn't complain or push him away. She simply swept his hair out of his face with soft caresses, following the trail her fingertips made with featherlight kisses, on his temple, across his forehead, down to the tip of his nose.
It was several minutes before he had the strength to stand upright on his own. Ladybug kept her hands looped around his waist, pinning them together. She wanted to be near him, and that realization made Cat Noir so dizzy he almost melted into her again.
His throat felt thick and too tight, and he had to swallow several times before managing to speak. "So what did you want to ask me?"
One hand slid from his back, up his chest, to rest over his heart – a heart that was already as much hers as her own was.
"Cat Noir," she said slowly, watching his face carefully. "Will you walk me home?"
"I don't know where you... Oh." Confusion gave way quickly to understanding as he grasped her implication. "Y-you don't have to-" he stuttered. "I mean, if you want to-" He could only imagine what his face must look like, but she must have liked what she saw because she smiled wider as he continued to babble. "Really, I'm okay if you don't... I can wait if-"
A soft finger to his lips cut off the steady flow of nonsense.
"My name is Marinette. Will you walk me home, please? I live right there." She pointed over her shoulder to the bakery behind her, and Cat Noir's vision went hazy.
She was Marinette too? Marinette loved him too?! This was too much. She was too much, and she'd honestly picked him? Marinette, with her fierce devotion to her friends, her bubbly enthusiasm, creativity, and contagious laughter. It seemed unreal that out of everyone, she wanted to be with him.
"Hi, Marinette," he whispered. "My name is Adrien Agreste. I love you, and I live over there." He flapped his arm wildly, hoping it was the right direction. He honestly couldn't take his eyes off of her to check.
Shock registered briefly across her face. Ladybug caught his arm as he flailed, gently pointing it off in what was probably the real right direction. And then she started to cry.
Author's note: This was the gooiest chapter ever! 3 And there's only two chapters left! AHH!