Author's Note: I LOVE POST REVEAL SHENANIGANS SO MUCH (and I hope you do too!) Enjoy reading and please leave comments, kiddos. Have fun!
It's close to 1 am when Marinette reluctantly gets up and tells Adrien she has to go home, even though she herself doesn't really want the night to end.
Adrien smiles at her, eyes sparking mischievously. "Hold on—don't go home yet. I have a fun idea."
She turns to look at him, curious. "What is it?"
"Let's visit the Eiffel Tower before they turn the lights off."
"But that's in fifteen minutes!"
"So what? You're Ladybug and I'm Chat Noir. We can get there in five."
Marinette laughs in delighted surprise. This is a side of Adrien that she's never seen, and now she's beginning to understand why Plagg chose him to be Chat Noir.
She smirks. "Bet I can beat you there. Tikki, transforme moi!"
"That's a challenge! Plagg, transforme moi!"
They leap out of Adrien's window and soar across the rooftops of Paris, doing their best to outpace each other. But there's a reason that Ladybug and Chat Noir are partners, and they are evenly matched. They reach the Eiffel Tower at the same time in two minutes flat, and spend the next three minutes leisurely swinging their way up the shining beams until they're near the top.
They sit on top of the trestles and smile at each other, legs dangling.
"Told you we'd get here before they turn the lights off! There are ten whole minutes left," says Chat Noir, looking pleased.
"And I definitely beat you here," says Ladybug, smug.
"My lady, you're amazing, but we definitely got here at the same time," responds Chat, raising an eyebrow.
Ladybug's eyes crinkle merrily and she starts giggling.
He looks at her with confusion. "What's so funny?"
"It's just—you're Adrien, you know? And I would never have imagined him—you—calling me My Lady."
Chat blushes. "Do you not like it? I can stop if you don't."
"No! It's fine—I just have to get used to it! Don't worry about it, chaton. If I can still call you that," she says, flashing a smile at him.
"I love all your nicknames for me," responds Chat, leaning forward with complete earnestness.
"Merci, mon petit minou," says Ladybug, tickling his chin and sliding her hand down his arm to squeeze his hand. She leans her head on his shoulder and sighs with contentment as the lights on the tower go off.
"This is the third day in a row you've been falling asleep in class, Marinette!" scolds Alya the next day. "What's going on?"
In the seat below them, Nino is having a similar conversation with Adrien. "Dude, you're not looking so good. Are you getting enough rest?"
"It's the bakery, Alya!" says Marinette, as Alya shakes her head in disapproval. "Maman and Papa have just had a lot of extra orders lately, and I've been staying up late to help them."
"I, uh—I've been taking an extra Physics course online," says Adrien. "I thought it sounded interesting, but it's a lot more work than I expected it to be," he adds, with a bashful grin.
He pointedly avoids eye contact with Marinette, who he can tell is staring at the back of his head with raised eyebrows. Still, he can practically see the words she's thinking hovering in the air in front of him. An online physics course? That's the best excuse you could come up with?
Though, to be fair, he's not wrong. Between the two of them, they have been exploring the natural limits of physics on a regular basis as the two teenage masked superheroes of Paris for the past year. Magic, it turns out, has an interesting effect on what those limits are.
It occurs to Adrien suddenly that they've only explored those limits when it comes to crime fighting. But not when it comes to other more…pleasant activities. He makes a note to himself to change that, soon.
"Wow, I guess you really like physics, huh?" says Nino, interrupting his thoughts.
"Yeah, it's—ah, it's a lot of fun. There's a lot I still don't know, though. I have a lot to learn," responds Adrien in what he hopes is a convincingly studious tone of voice, rubbing his hair.
"But dude, you're always so busy, you should take a break and take some time off! Don't let something like physics wear you down."
Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien spots Marinette valiantly trying to hold back her giggles, and decides it's time to have some fun. He turns around slightly so that she can see his face more clearly, and wiggles his eyebrows at Nino with a smirk before sliding his eyes to look at her sideways.
"Oh, it doesn't wear me out at all. In fact, I can't wait to do some experiments tonight."
Nino stares at his friend with utter bafflement as Marinette bursts into uncontrollable peals of laughter and the teacher scolds her for disrupting the class.
Alya says nothing, but simply observes the entire exchange in suspicious silence.
After class is over, the cast and crew of My Fair Ladybug heads to the theater to work on constructing the set pieces. All hands are on deck: Nathanaël is painting the backgrounds, Rose and Juleka are working on costumes, and Nino and Alya are in the control booth working on setting up lighting and sound, while Marinette and Adrien discuss stage blocking with Professeur Seydoux and Mylene, who has been tapped to be assistant director.
Professeur Seydoux motions at Adrien first. "So Chat Noir, for your big entrance at the beginning, I want you to enter from stage left. The spotlight's going to going to be on you and there's going to be a musical cue as well. The whole audience is going to have their eyes on you, so make sure to enter with confidence."
Adrien frowns. "No, I don't think so—I think Ladybug's entrance should be more heroic and exciting than mine. I don't need a musical cue. Give it to her."
"But you're the male lead of the play—your entrance needs to have as much of an impact on the audience as hers," says Professeur Seydoux.
"And Ladybug will have a musical cue of her own, so you don't need to worry about that," adds Mylene.
"Still, Ladybug should be the main focus."
Marinette shakes her head and looks him straight in the eye. "Adrien, Chat Noir is just as important to the story as Ladybug. If not more."
"I know, but he's—"
"Just as important. And I think Chat Noir should get an extended intro, to get the audience just as excited about seeing him in action for the first time as Ladybug was."
"But Chat Noir wasn't that impressive the first time he and Ladybug met."
"The audience doesn't need to know that. And that's also not true at all. He was amazing. And he should know that."
She quickly glances sideways at the others and adds, "You saw what Alya wrote in the script. It's an incredible moment! Ladybug couldn't have saved the day without him."
Adrien smiles. "I guess you're right. It would have been pretty catastrophic if Chat Noir didn't show up," he says with a wink.
Mylene and Professeur Seydoux exchange glances. For some reason, it doesn't quite feel right to interrupt the moment, even though they need to continue blocking out scenes.
Luckily, they are all interrupted by the sounds of something crashing in the control booth, followed by a rather disheveled looking Nino and Alya standing up and grinning with embarrassment.
"What happened? Is everything okay?" calls the Professeur, concerned.
"Yeah, yeah—we're fine!" says Nino unsteadily, a faint shadow of lipstick clearly visible on his cheek.
Adrien unsuccessfully tries to muffle his laughter as Marinette raises her eyebrows in surprise and makes eye contact with a blushing Alya. It looks like she's not the only one with a few secrets up her sleeve these days.
After rehearsal, the theater empties out quickly, though Marinette lingers to talk details about the posters with Professeur Seydoux and is the last one to leave.
As she walks out of the theater, she's surprised to see Adrien still standing there. She thought that his limo would have showed up by now. But she's not complaining. A moment alone with Adrien Agreste in the daytime is a rare and lucky chance.
"Hey, princess, chat va?" says Adrien with a cheeky smile and a bow as Marinette walks up to him.
"Ughhh, you're such a nerd," says Marinette, wrinkling her nose at the pun, but smiling in spite of herself.
"It's been a long time since you've called me that. Do you remember? It was when Nathanaël got akumatised. You were showing off so much! Saying you'd be my knight, or whatever."
Adrien laughs as she imitates the way he flexed his arms.
"Well, I am! And I wasn't that bad."
"Oh no, believe me, you absolutely were," says Marinette, rolling her eyes.
"I can't believe I ever thought that you were shy," responds Adrien, sticking out his tongue.
"And I can't believe I ever thought you were a serious person!"
Adrien waves his hand dismissively and tosses his head. "Well, to be fair, most people don't know I love puns."
"And they're better off for it," she says, poking his nose.
"Hey! My puns are incredible."
"I'm just speaking the truth." She lowers her voice and looks around to make sure that nobody is listening. "So…about tonight. Your place or mine?"
Adrien cocks his head, considering. "Well, you're always the one who comes over. Why don't I visit tonight? The food's better at your place, anyway."
"Glutton. But fine, my place it is," says Marinette as she smiles affectionately at him and watches his eyes glitter hungrily at the prospect of finally getting a taste of her parents' croissants and cookies.
She reaches up to ruffle his hair. "You're such a little chaton. How did I never notice before?"
Adrien shrugs. "I guess you weren't looking close enough."
"Hey, by the way, come as yourself."
"What?"
"I mean, come as Adrien. My parents like you a lot, there's no need to sneak up to my room as Chat Noir. Especially Papa. I think he'd probably have kittens if he found out that we're dating."
Adrien looks down. "I know, but…"
"But what?" asks Marinette with concern, rubbing his arm. "Is something wrong?"
"This is going to sound dumb, but I kind of wanted to…reverse what we've been doing? You know, you've been visiting me as Ladybug for the past few nights. I thought it might be fun to visit you as Chat Noir instead."
Marinette breaks into a smile and laughs with relief. "Is that it? We can still do that. You can transform in my room. I don't mind."
"But where's the surprise in that? That won't be nearly as fun."
"Hey, you're the one who said you wanted to experiment," says Marinette with a wink.
She grins as she leans up and pecks him on the lips. "And now you've got a few hours to get creative! Come by at 8. I'll be ready then. See you tonight!"
Marinette runs off towards her house and Adrien fondly watches her disappear into the distance, pigtails bouncing, until Plagg pokes his head out of his bag and interrupts his reverie.
"What does she mean by 'get creative'?"
"I don't know yet, Plagg. I'm still figuring it out."
"Well, you better figure it out quick. And get me some camembert while you're thinking. You haven't fed me all day!" wheedles the kwami.
"Do you ever think about anything other than cheese?"
"Never! And that's why my life is much less complicated than yours."