A/N:
Hey there everyone!
So, a quick back-story about how this one-shot came about.
I saw a bunch of memes about Adrien finding out he's Buttercup after Elation/Exaltation had released. Prior to that, I saw a tweet in which someone asked Ezra, the voice director for the English dub, to please have Cat Noir call Marinette 'Princess' but he replied saying it was too late.
Therefore, I took it upon myself to give us English dub viewers a little consolation in the form of this very fluffy post-reveal Adrienette one-shot along with a little crumb of MariChat.
Don't worry, there are no season 5 spoilers, however there is a minor season 4 spoiler for those who haven't watched the 4th season yet.
Hope you all enjoy!
Marinette furiously stomped back and forth across her room. It was the third time, THIRD TIME that he'd slipped up this week. She had warned him not to do anything that might risk anyone finding out about their identities, but did he listen? Nope. Her stupid boyfriend decided that knowing each other's identities gave him a green light to be twice as flirty as he already was.
The first time he'd slipped up was the day after they had found out their identities. Adrien waited in the bakery to walk Marinette to school just like he'd done every day since they started dating. Except this time, when she met him in the bakery, he took a bow Cat Noir style before saying "Allow me to safely walk you to school on this meowvelous day, M'lady". She shot him a reprimanding look after quickly glancing around to ensure no one looked at them suspiciously. Thankfully the only other person in the bakery was her father who just gushed at how the blonde was a romantic at heart just like himself.
The second time was a couple days later when he returned to school after rushing off for a photoshoot during lunch. She was walking through the empty courtyard on her way back to Ms. Mendeleiev's class after dropping Rose off at the nurse's office. "Lovebug!" she heard him shout as he ran in and pulled her into a tight hug. He bent down and brought her hand to his lips, giving it a light peck. "M'lady, being away from mew for so long had me feline absolutely clawful."
She rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him away as she'd done on multiple occasions. As they turned to go to class, they saw Ms. Bustier standing at the bottom of the stairs looking slightly surprised. The couple blushed embarrassedly, unsure of what to say to their teacher. Luckily, she just smiled at them affectionately and continued making her way to wherever she'd been heading to before witnessing her students' little romantic moment.
And of course, today was the third and biggest slip up. They had PE in the courtyard with Mr. D'Argencourt. Marinette and Adrien stood next to each other on the same side of the courtyard along with Nino, Kim, Max, Juleka and Ivan while the rest of the class was on the other side.
She had just dodged the ball that Alix had thrown at her when he proudly patted her on the back and said, "Good job, Bugaboo."
A panicked expression appeared on Marinette's face upon hearing the name Bugaboo. She turned to reprimand the blonde but instead froze in terror as she looked behind him. He turned around to see Nino looking at them both suspiciously.
"Hehe, I mean there's a bug... Uh, on you Marinette." Adrien said, casually dusting Marinette's shoulder.
"Thank you... Adrien." She responded awkwardly. " For… getting rid of the… bug on me"
"No…problem," He turned and shot Nino a thumbs up with what he hoped was normal smile.
After a couple seconds, Nino shook his head and smiled at them before returning his focus back to the game.
The couple let out a breath of relief before Marinette gave him an angry glare.
The sound of a thud from above made Marinette's angry march come to a halt. Standing at the end of the stairs that led to her bed, she looked up to see her hatch open and Cat Noir's head pop in. "About time," she muttered under her breath.
"Hey there Buga-" He paused midway. He knew he was already gonna get his whiskers yanked, the last thing he wanted was to make his situation worse by reminding her about today's little incident. "M'lady. How are mew this wonfurful evening?"
"Don't even think about it," warned Marinette as she crossed her arms. "You're not gonna be able to charm your way out of this one."
"Not even with flowers and your furvourite pawstries?" He asked as he climbed onto her bed with said pastries and flowers in hand.
"Nope," she turned her face away from him with an angry pout. "It's the third time this week you've slipped up. You're lucky it was Nino who heard you and not Alya."
"I don't see what the big deal is though." He said as he climbed down the stairs from her bed. With a little hop, he skipped the last two steps and landed right in front of her. "Do you really think Alya is gonna find out my identity just from me calling you Bugaboo?"
Marinette shot him a deadpanned look as she took the flowers and pastries and handed him her phone with the video that Alya posted on the Ladyblog this morning open. Alya's voice rang through the room as Cat Noir played the video.
"Alright peeps, it took me a while, but I managed to do it for all you LadyNoir fans out there. Here's a video compilation of all the nicknames that Ladybug and Cat Noir have called each other over the years." Alya said eagerly. "Comment down below what your favorite LadyNoir nickname is and until next time, Stay Connected."
He watched intently as the screen blanked for a second before lighting up again and short clips of him and Ladybug began to play. A sheepish grin appeared on his face as he listened to almost every single time they'd called each other by the nicknames they kept for each other.
"Now that we know each other's identities. We need to be really careful Adrien." Marinette said as the video ended. She placed the flowers in a vase and left the bag of pastries on her desk before going back to where she had been standing. "Which means no Bugaboo or M'lady unless we're transformed or we're absolutely alone."
"Claws in," Adrien frowned as he detransformed. "I'm sorry Marinette. I promise I'll be more cautious from now on."
Marinette sighed as she sat on her chaise. "No, I'm sorry. I was the one that told her it was okay to post the video. I didn't expect that we would find out each other's identities the way we did. I did think we would find out at all to be honest."
"True, I would have preferred something a bit more sentimental," Adrien confessed as he sat next to her. "But I still have no regrets Bugaboo."
For months he'd imagined how their reveal would go. He would decorate a rooftop just as he'd done when Andre first got akumatized, except this time Ladybug would show up for sure. They'd do one last patrol as Ladybug and Cat Noir before landing on the decorated rooftop. They would face each other with their eyes closed and finally say their detransformation commands. Under the moonlit sky, they would slowly open their eyes and finally see the identity of the person that had been fighting with them all these months, the person who had become their closest and most trusted friend and the best partner in the world.
"I'm sure our reveal was definitely not the most ideal compared to other past holders," Marinette snickered, bring Adrien out of his thoughts.
Their reveal had taken place in the most unexpected of situations. She and Cat Noir had just de-akumatized Shadowmoth's latest victim and repaired all the damages. Since she had a little more time, Ladybug offered to take the little girl back home. She swung across the sky, making her way home when a group people from below shouted for her to help just as her miraculous beeped. It seemed Whiskers had gotten himself stuck in a tree once again. Her miraculous beeped again as she handed the cat to Mrs. Michelle. A swarm of fans rushed to take selfies with her as she was about to leave. With just a few seconds left, she jumped into the closest abandoned alley.
"Ladybug?" Someone called from behind her.
"Cat Noir?" She said instantly recognizing his voice.
She turned around to see him looking just as panicked as she became. Before either of them had any time to react, both their miraculouses beeped a final warning and their magical suits disappeared leaving Adrien and Marinette facing each other with their respective kwamis floating next to them. They both stared at each other in shock before bursting out in laughter. After all, they had just ditched each other at the movies to go fight an akuma.
"Maybe we should come up with different nicknames for each other." the blonde boy suggested. "You know, names strictly for Adrien and Marinette to use on each other."
Marinette rested her head on his shoulder, "That a great idea Kitten."
She mused at how easily she called him that. Had she found out about Cat Noir's identity before six months ago, she probably would have had a complete existential crisis since Adrien and Cat Noir were two completely different personalities. However, once she and Adrien started dating, the young designer noticed a lot of similarities between her boyfriend and her superhero partner. As they got to know each other better, she noticed that the blonde boy was a huge dork who loved puns. Though they weren't cat-themed ones, he'd always find a way to throw in random puns based on whatever they were talking about. Both boys could be really flirty when they wanted to although Cat Noir was a much bigger flirt than Adrien.
"Ladies first, M'lady" Adrien said bringing Marinette back to reality.
"Oh, don't worry about me," she flashed a smirk at him. "I already have the purrfect name."
A smirk appeared as he leaned into his girlfriend. "Was that a pun I heard?"
"Maybe," she teased, pushing him back with a finger on his forehead. "So have you thought of a name yet?"
"Hm, a name that Adrien can use on Marinette." Adrien tapped his chin, trying to think of a cute nickname for the love of his life. "What about Buginette?"
"Nope," answered Marinette.
"Maribug?"
Marinette shook her head in disapproval. "No puns, Kitty. Whatever you call me can't be related to Ladybug in anyway. "
Adrien scratched his head. He tried to think of a name that would be fitting to Marinette. "Princess"
"Princess? Why not a queen?" She laughed.
"Queens have too much responsibility." He began explaining, not realizing that she was joking. "They have to make sure everything is perfect for the king and would have to take over his responsibilities when he can't. But a princess doesn't have to. Princesses are special and deserve nothing but the best treatment with no stress or worries. Just like you Bugaboo, you're my princess and I'm your knight in shining leather."
Adrien took her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers.
"I love it" she said as she gave him a peck on his cheek.
"So purrincess, will you finally tell me what nickname you have fur me?" He asked curiously.
A smirk returned to Marinette's face. "Buttercup" she said, scanning his expression as he processed the name. Ever since finding out that Adrien and Cat Noir were the same person, she realized that he made no indication of knowing that he was Buttercup so she decided to seize the opportunity at hand and find out. Marinette watched as the cogs in her boyfriend's head turned.
"Buttercup?" he said pensively. For some reason the name sounded familiar to Adrien. He knew he'd heard it before, but he couldn't figure when. Suddenly, it hit him. He thought back to several months before he and Marinette started dating, when she had asked Cat Noir to help her practice her declaration of love.
"Well, what's your boyfriend's name?" He asked, ready to help.
"Uh— that's private." She said, hiding the page behind her back defensively.
He groaned in defeat, "That's not gonna make things any easier."
"Okay" she agreed, still maintaining her defensive posture and tone. "Buttercup."
Cat Noir burst out laughing. "His name is Buttercup?"
"Of course, that's not his real name, it's a code name! Come on, start over." She pushed him back onto the stool and returned to her position.
"Wait a minute." His eyes widened as realization washed over him. "I'M BUTTERCUP?!"
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