Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir and I make no profit from this story. No copyright infringement is intended I'm just enjoying some time with a few of my favorite television characters. The story is mine, except where directly quoting or referencing episodes.

He watched anticipation and a little trepidation play across her beautiful face; once her eyes were opened, literally and figuratively, he'd know if he'd made the right decision to tell her now or if he'd just been impatient to finally start living life with her in it. Regardless, it seemed only right to cement the ending to this part of their relationship, and begin the next, with a kiss.

He placed his hands on either side of her face, slowly drawing her closer. Her eyes were still closed, but surely she knew what he was doing. Trust was all over her face, along with the smile that formed as he closed the gap between them, until finally, softly, he pressed his lips to hers.

Their first kiss was sweet, gentle, an introduction of sorts. He had determined not to kiss her until he could do so without the mask. He had held her, laughed with her, cried with her, kissed her on the cheek or the top of her head as he hugged her, but he wanted that first real kiss to be a turning point. And it was, though she didn't know it yet, for she still hadn't opened her eyes.

Foreheads leaning together, he opened his eyes to see hers still closed, but with a radiant smile on her face. He grinned, and had she seen him at that moment, she would have realized Chat Noir was just as much a part of Adrien as he was a persona he adopted while in disguise.

"Milady?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Don't you think you should open your eyes now?" he teased.

"But I'm happy. I don't want to open my eyes. I'm afraid I'm dreaming and you'll be gone."

"Never, Marinette. I'm still here, still me. I just lost the costume."

She inhaled, steeling herself for the reveal. It wasn't that she didn't want to know, but she knew she would soon have to tell him the whole truth, too.

He caressed her face, kissed her lips once more. "Milady, look at me. Please?"

Her smile returned, and her eyes fluttered open. Though the sun had long since gone down, the string of lights above them provided a soft glow that allowed her to see him for the first time. The smile grew.

"Adrien?" The hand that flew to her mouth couldn't stop the giggle that bubbled up from within.

He returned the smile, but suddenly shy and a little uncertain without the mask, he looked down. When the waiting for her to say something became unbearable, he raised his eyes to hers once more. "Surprised?"

She giggled again, sounding much like her teenage self, the one he had started falling in love with before he recognized what was happening. The one who taught him how deep emotions could run without even trying.

"Yes. No. Maybe? Looking back, I can see I should have realized. But I was too busy trying to understand how my feelings for both of you were changing, I mean, you—er—and you? Each of you? Both of you? Both parts of you!—that I couldn't see I had fallen for the same man, twice."

She reached up to touch his face, hesitantly, still trying to reconcile the man before her with the superhero cat. When her fingers touched his brow, where the mask had always been before, his eyes closed and a smile curved his lips. Then her hand moved down the side of his face and stilled at his cheek, where he covered her smaller one with his own. "That's nice."

Marinette released the breath she had been holding, then inhaled again. "I really should have known. But your more outgoing, flirty Chat Noir personality threw me for a long time. And you treated me so differently than you ever had as Adrien. Why? If you wanted a relationship with me, surely you knew I had a super-crush on you, almost from the beginning? I would have fallen at your feet if you'd asked me out!" Her eyes widened, surprised that she just admitted that aloud.

He flashed that flirty grin again. "I wasn't sure you would. You were an enigma for a while, Marinette, jumbling your words and seemingly seeking me out at the same time you avoided me. You were always nice, but a bit hard to get to know at first. When I assumed the Chat Noir identity, though, you intrigued me.

"Remember that first time I really interacted with you as Chat Noir, that whole Evillustrator incident? You were amazing and unafraid—it was a side of you I hadn't seen before. But you also seemed immune to my flirtatious ways. And other times, when I was discouraged, defeated even, you didn't hesitate to listen to me, to share some of your own struggles and provide encouragement, right here on this balcony. No one else would have taken the time to do that, Marinette, certainly not with the same sensitivity and kindness."

He cleared his throat, looked down briefly in embarrassment, then back up into her face. "You know I once thought I couldn't care for anyone but Ladybug. But after years of trying to get her to see me as more than her crime-fighting partner, I began to understand I couldn't ever know her the same way I was coming to know you. We will always be friends and partners, but the need for secrecy means we can't share the most important parts of ourselves.

"But you helped me sort through a lot of those tangled up thoughts and emotions, Marinette. You've shown me what a real, lasting partnership could look like, one where we could share everything. But only after there were no more secrets between us." He took her hands in his once again.

"Chat—I—um—"

"A moment more, Milady. Then it's your turn." That smile again. Her knees wouldn't keep her standing too much longer if he kept looking at her like that.

"Once we were in college, you seemed more confident around me, more yourself, the woman that I was coming to know as Chat Noir from our visits up here. I considered pursuing you as Adrien, maybe even letting Alya set us up on a date to see how it might go, I didn't think she'd mind. But I got scared and let that idea go. I didn't want things to be awkward in our group of four if it didn't work out. So I just kept visiting you up here. Behind the mask it was safer.

"Too late, it finally registered in my mind that I was falling in love with you. By that point, I had revealed too much as Chat Noir and you would have easily put the pieces together as we naturally got to know each other. I felt like I had to keep you safe by keeping you in the dark about my double life, and suddenly I found I hated the mask I'd hidden behind. I was stuck, in love with my best friend in both parts of my life, and forced to remain just as silent in both parts, too."

Marinette looked into his eyes, squeezing his hands. "Oh, Kitty. Adrien." His name came out as a soft sigh. "I gave up on you when we graduated. I finally let the dream of you go, figuring four years was plenty for you to know what and who you wanted, that we were meant to be good friends and no more. That's when I relaxed and could behave as an almost normal human being. And—I'd met someone else by then." She turned her face away as her cheeks took on a pink hue.

"Someone else, Milady? You never told me about someone else, either one of me."

She turned back toward him, an amused look on her face. "Hmmmm. I wonder how that conversation might have gone?" She looked upward as she removed one hand from his and tapped her chin with her index finger. "'Well—uh—Adrien, I know I've acted like a crazy person all these years, but now I realize I'm coming to care for someone else deeply, and he's taken over my daydreams. I think we're better off as friends after all. Who? Oh, yeah, well—Chat Noir and I have this evening visit thing going and—'"

Adrien grabbed her around the waist, lifted her up, and swung her around, a massive grin lighting his face. Placing her back on her feet, he pulled her into a hug and exhaled into her hair. "Whew. You had me worried for a moment there!"

She laughed. "Silly Kitty. Don't you know it's only you? Apparently, it's always been only you, Adrien." She kissed his cheek, then smiled at him. "Come, sit down. I think I have a story you might find entertaining."