Author's Note: I'm allergic to angst, so I don't like to have my characters suffer for longer than necessary. And here's the proof :3 I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I hope you enjoy all the humor and fluff! As always, please leave me a comment here or a message at chassecroise on tumblr if you like it!
Even though it's close to midnight, Ladybug doesn't feel like leaving yet, and they cuddle underneath Adrien's comforter, limbs intertwined as they silently watch the stars.
Adrien turns to look at her. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Of course. You can ask me anything," she replies, echoing his own words from the morning back at him with a smile.
"I was wondering about Chat Noir."
She stiffens. "What about him?"
"You work so close together. Have you ever had feelings for him?"
She sighs and bites her lip. "I don't know. It's not that I don't like him—it's just that we're always bantering back and forth and I never really thought about it, because I love him as a friend. And, well—because my heart belongs to you."
She giggles as Adrien blushes in the darkness.
"Maybe if you weren't around, I'd think about it, because Chat Noir is pretty cute, even if he is way too overconfident and full of bravado."
"It's mean to say something like that and not reveal your true identity to me," he responds, eyebrows raised.
Ladybug smiles, feeling mildly guilty. "Touché. You got me there."
"Have you ever thought that Chat Noir might have feelings for you?"
She sits up straight and stares at Adrien, eyes wide. "Oh my god, I hope not. That would be terrible."
He looks at her with surprise. "Why?"
"If he does, I could have really hurt his feelings tonight! I-I kind of told him that I know he's never felt like that about me. But—now that you mention it, I've never actually asked him. It just never occurred to me that he really might."
At that, the clock strikes midnight, and Ladybug sighs and stands up. "I've gotta go."
Adrien squeezes her hand. "See you tomorrow night?"
She smiles and blows him a kiss. "Of course. See you then, mon cher."
After she leaves, Adrien lies awake all night, thinking about what she said. It's not that she doesn't like Chat Noir, it's just that she's never considered him as an option. Because of Adrien.
He's suspected for a while that Marinette had a bit of a crush on him, but he never expected it would all turn out like this. He's been cockblocking himself the whole time. It's the funniest thing.
"What if I visited her house as Chat Noir, reversed the situation? What would happen?" he murmurs, thinking out loud.
Plagg gags from the corner. "Please leave me out of your silly love problems, Adrien. I've been dealing with enough from you over the past few days."
Adrien scowls at the grumpy kwami. "Hey! Not fair. Do you see me whining about how much camembert I have to find for you all the time? Complain again and see what happens. I won't give you any for at least a week."
"Well, well! It looks like I've struck monsieur's nerves."
"Go to sleep, Plagg."
"Fine."
Two minutes pass in silence before the kwami's wheedling, squeaky voice floats across the room once more.
"Adrien?"
"What is it now?"
"You weren't serious about the cheese, were you?"
"Good night, Plagg."
The next afternoon, the cast of My Fair Ladybug has their most successful rehearsal yet. Professeur Seydoux is nearly in tears at how well it's all going, and concludes practice by announcing that she is so proud that Marinette and Adrien seem to have finally understood their characters—and that she hasn't seen student actors as completely in sync as they are in years.
"Alright, man!" says Nino, giving Adrien a high five.
Alya, on the other hand, narrows her eyes at Marinette, who is practically glowing with pleasure. She grabs her by the arm and pulls her into a corner of the room.
"Girl, you're hiding something from me. When did you get so comfortable around Adrien? Don't tell me that you're secretly dating each other and you haven't told me!" she hisses, arms akimbo.
Marinette frantically looks around to see if Chloe is around, and even though she's not, she still hushes her friend.
"Shhh! No, it's nothing like that. It's just rehearsal, you know—practice makes perfect!" She tries to grin confidently at her friend, but Alya's not buying it.
"Mmm, I don't believe you. You're up to something. I can tell from the look in your eyes. And if you don't tell me, I'm going to figure it out sooner or later, because you're gonna be the one who tells me. You couldn't keep a secret to save your life when it comes to your feelings for that boy."
"I swear, Alya, it's nothing!"
"Nope. You're lying. But that's okay. Because I'm going to find out what it is."
"Oh, Alya, come on, don't you trust me?"
"When it comes to how silly you act around him? Not as far as I can throw you."
Alya shakes her head as her phone starts ringing. "Hold on, it's Maman. I've got to get to the hotel to help her. But don't think I'm done with you!"
She runs out of the theater and Marinette sighs in relief. Sometimes it's a real pain having an aspiring journalist for a best friend. She picks up her bag and starts to head out, when she overhears Professeur Seydoux yelling at someone over the phone.
"What do you mean? How could you be so irresponsible? You know how important this is!"
She runs up to the Professeur, concerned about how angry she seems and hopes that Hawk Moth isn't listening in. The last thing she needs today is another akumatised teacher.
"No, no, that's fine, just make sure you don't mess it up again. We can't afford another mistake!"
Professeur Seydoux hangs up and throws her phone into her purse.
"What's wrong, Professeur? Is there something I can do to help?"
"No, Marinette—I'm sorry, but there's nothing you can do. The stupid printer printed the show posters in the wrong size, so now they won't be ready for another two weeks."
Marinette is confused. "But aren't they up already? A friend told me that he saw them all over Paris."
Professeur Seydoux shakes her head. "Of course not, that's impossible! They haven't even been printed yet. Your friend must have seen posters for another show and mistaken them for ours."
She rushes out the door with irritation, her good mood from rehearsal completely evaporated.
Marinette watches her rapidly retreating back, utterly confused.
If there are no posters out there, there's only one way that Chat Noir could have already known about the play.
He has to be a student at Francoise-Dupont.
And judging by a conversation she had with a certain Adrien Agreste last night, Marinette's pretty sure she knows who it might be.
She walks out of the school and sees Adrien sitting on the bottom of the steps, leaning down to put something into his bag. But as she comes closer, she sees that he's not putting anything in—he's just talking to it. But why would he be talking to his bag?
And that's when she sees it: the tiny creature peeping out of the flap, just as his limo pulls up. Small and black, with laser green eyes and pointy black ears that look like a cat, smirking until Adrien hisses at it and shoves it back inside before getting into the car.
Marinette watches as the limo quickly drives away, and it all comes rushing to her at once.
And she's furious.
That night, she swings into Adrien's room without preamble.
"Ladybug~ !" he says as soon as he sees her, blushing a sweet pink that almost makes her forget that she's here because she's livid at him.
She scowls. "Don't get cute on me. Where is it? Where is it hiding?"
Adrien is completely baffled. "What are you talking about?"
"Your kwami. CHAT NOIR."
Adrien's eyes go wide and he starts stammering nervously and walking backwards, trying to make excuses.
But Ladybug is too fast for him, and she grabs his hands and pulls them up to her face.
His ring shines brightly in the moonlight, and she looks at it before dropping his hands and glaring fiercely into his eyes.
"So you know, then. Who I really am."
"Yes. You're—you're Marinette," breathes Adrien. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"Why didn't you tell me? How long have you known?"
Adrien sighs and hangs his head.
"Don't get too angry at him, Ladybug. He only just figured it out last night," interrupts a droll voice from the corner.
"Is that—?"
"Yes, that's Plagg."
"Plagg?"
"My kwami." Adrien calls the small black creature over and yells, "Plagg, transforme moi!"
And Ladybug watches in astonishment as the boy she loves transforms into her best friend and partner-in-crime-fighting right in front of her eyes. He stands in front of her and gives her a cheeky little wave.
"Hi, Buginette. C'est moi, Chat Noir."
Ladybug stands in silence and stares at him, trying to reconcile the fact that Adrien and Chat are one and the same. And the fact that he already knew about her secret identity before she knew his.
"Cat got your tongue?" he says, with a small smile.
She presses her palm against her face, groaning. "Why are you like this? How are the two of you the same person?"
Chat Noir shrugs casually, though his bright green eyes are tense.
"By the way, Plagg was right—I only figured out who you were yesterday. When you told me about the play during our night patrol."
"Why didn't you say anything then?"
"You've always been so serious about keeping our secret identities separate. I didn't want to say anything because it was so important to you."
"But—when I was telling you about my feelings for Adrien—for you! I was rejecting you and accepting you at the same time—I just—my god, this is so confusing!"
She groans and sits back down on the side of his bed and buries her face in her hands.
Chat Noir sits beside her. "Hey," he says softly. "Look at me."
She puts her arms down and slowly meets his eyes. And as she does, she can see Adrien peeking out at her from behind the bright green mask. Gently, he takes her hands in his.
"It doesn't have to be that complicated. You like Adrien. And I like you. We can figure this out. It's just two different sides of the same coin."
She nods. "You're right. And it seems so obvious now. How did neither of us figure this out before?"
"Well, I don't know about you, but I've been suspicious for a while now. Especially when I noticed your earrings in class the other day."
"You were watching me in class? How did I not notice? I stare at you all the time!"
He shrugs. "I guess you weren't paying attention."
Ladybug laughs in disbelief and stands back up, waving her arms around. "This is all so weird. Don't you think this is weird?"
Chat Noir grins. "Just a little bit." And then a new idea suddenly strikes his fancy, and he stands up to face her.
"Hey, um—I've got a weird question. Can you de-transform?"
She looks at him curiously. "You mean, right now?"
"Yes."
"But why?"
"I just—I just want to try something. Just humor me."
"Okay," says Ladybug, shrugging. She finds it an odd request, but the night has been strange enough, and it can't get much weirder than this.
So in a flash of bright light, Ladybug is gone, and in her place is Marinette. Just plain Marinette, standing in front of Chat Noir.
He takes a deep breath and laces his fingers through hers as he looks into her eyes, and Marinette finds herself blushing in the darkness.
"Can I kiss you?" he says, earnest and tender.
"Why are you asking me again?" she responds, confused.
"Because I know you're okay with kissing Adrien, but I don't know if you're okay with kissing Chat Noir."
He lets her hands go and looks down.
"I understand if you don't want to. I just thought maybe, it was worth a try—"
Marinette smiles. "Oh, mon petit minou. You don't need to ask."
She leans up and cups her hands around his face, pulling him into a deep and gentle kiss.
They pull back, and she finds her voice once more. "Now you de-transform," she says.
Chat grins. "Your wish is my command."
In a flash of green light, it's just Marinette and Adrien, holding hands in the moonlight.
And when they kiss again, it tastes as sweet as candy and as right as fate.