Because everyone thinks Adrien will find out first, but come on…
Le Finale
"Why me? Why did have to be me?"
It was two weeks later, just after the end of classes, and Marinette was reading through her 'revised' script for the fourteenth hundred time before rehearsal.
'Revised' apparently meant 'add in twenty more kisses, and reduce both actors into spluttering idiots'.
"Because, just as I've told you a million times, you make a hot Ladybug, Marinette."
Alya was grinning in her 'Director's Chair'.
"Now, start again."
With a reluctant sigh, Marinette begins.
"I shall never love another-"
"What's that? Another piece of pizza?"
"Alya!"
"Well, you don't really sound like you mean it. You sound like, 'huh, another piece of pizza would be nice, I wish I had some'. Hey, pizza would be nice. Nino?"
"On it, Boss-Woman!"
"Thanks. Now this time, Marinette look longingly out into the audience and say-"
"Hey guys, what'd I miss?"
Adrien had been gone most of the day for one early morning photoshoot.
(He seemed to have a lot of those)
Marinette didn't really know anymore, though, because she only knew what he told her. Her stalking days were. (Well, that's what she says)
"Nothing but Marinette completely botching up my script!"
"Alya! "
Adrien grins at her.
"Well I guess I'll just have to save the day then, huh?"
Marinette rolls her eyes.
"This is a monologue. You can't do anything. You're dead."
He leans over her shoulder to read her script.
"Oh… sorry about that."
"You couldn't help it."
"Stop being so cute!"
They both frown at Alya.
"We're not."
(Except they really are, and now they're blushing)
"Whatever. I give up. When you go home, Marinette, practice. Or you're dead."
"I am not that bad-"
"Yes, yes you are. You're voice is pathetic."
Marinette shakes her head no, Alya shakes her head yes.
Adrien giggles.
"Whatever. You and Adrien, center stage!"
"What are we doing?"
They call from center stage.
"Page six, take it from the top."
Marinette glances through the script and nods in recognition.
"I know who you are."
She looks at Adrien with a hint of a smile on her face.
"Oh really?"
His eyebrows lift, curious.
"You're the dread pirate Black Cat."
He smirks, and it's the same: arrogant, cocky, but… goofy too.
"You won't get away with this. The prince will come looking for me—"
She wants to laugh, because she knows.
"I'm sure he will."
Adrien's eyes glimmer.
"Do you doubt my words?"
She let indignation seep into her tone.
"Not a single one."
Such sincerity. So Chat.
"Do you love… this prince?"
He actually looks serious, and Marinette remembers how much better an actor he is compared to her.
"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"
Adrien hesitates.
"Can umm… Can I take a break?"
He looks nervous and a little tired.
"Yah, sure."
She pats his shoulder affectionately; she can get away with that. After all, they'd been kissing for almost two weeks now, and she can still comfortably call them friends without stretching it. Friends can pat shoulders affectionately.
They walk to the back, were Alya and Nino have ditched their directors seats to gorge themselves on pizza. Adrien sinks into one of the empty chairs.
"Do you want anything?"
She asks him
"No, I'm fine."
She sits next to him.
His eyes close. His hair falls in his face, and unconsciously, her hand moves to push it back. His head leans into her hand, and he sighs. While playing with hair might be considered intimate, Marinette thinks to herself, they'd certainly done some worse stuff, so she lets her hand continue to massage his head. Her fingers sink deeper, and Adrien purrs.
She smiles.
Because yes, she figured it out.
But he hasn't.
XoX
It started to unravel two weeks ago, when Chat caught her snooping around his house.
Well, she hadn't known then, but she had been curious as to why Chat had been around there.
That was when she found out that her unrequited feelings just might not be so unrequited.
But by then she had another problem: she liked two people.
So, she devised a bit of a test: if one of them actually did like her, he had to like both of her.
Operation Not-a-Crush -part 1– Engage.
xOx
Chat didn't show up.
At least, not on Monday night.
Marinette felt a wee bit disappointed about that, but she decided it was alright; if Chat really did like Marinette, then he would have to take some time to think about this, right?
So she waited.
She went to school.
She rehearsed.
And then Thursday night, as she sat on her balcony staring at the sky, she heard footsteps.
"Chat."
She grins at him in the darkness as he sulks, disappointed she caught him.
(Of course she did, she's Ladybug, but shhhhhhhh!)
"Princess."
"What brings you here alley cat?"
"Your presence isn't enough?"
"Why of course it is; but normally you pick the daylight hours."
"Cats are nocturnal."
She snorts.
"Of course you are."
He crawls over next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Sky gazing."
"I guess you can't really see the stars, what with all the clouds."
"Yeah. It's still pretty."
"Like you."
"What?"
This was pretty forward of him.
Maybe she hadn't needed to worry; he obviously did like Marinette.
"Oh, nothing."
Aww.
He was actually acting shy.
"Did you just say I was pretty?"
He frowns at her.
"Well, I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that you are, um… attractive."
"Aww, kitty you're so sweet! You're pretty cute too."
This time she had enough light to see his cheeks turn red.
She laughs.
"Say, who's the 'everyone' , huh? Been talking about me?"
"Just everyone at school."
He mumbles, and her eyebrows crease.
What if he knew her from school and he knew she liked Adrien?
Maybe that's why he was acting so shy?
But he didn't normally…
Hmmm.
"Do you go to my school?"
"Uh…maybe?"
"Do I know you, like, are we friends?"
He smiles a little.
"I'd like to think so."
"Do we talk a lot? Not like this, but you know…"
"Well, recently yeah."
Who, who?
"I actually came to tell you something."
"Oh?"
The lines in her forehead furrow deeper; who… wait.
Oh. Dear. Not now.
"Well… Ladybug said something… You two know each other?"
He shuffles nervously.
Hahaha.
"Pretty well."
He twitches, and then his eyes light up.
"Say, you have a crush on anyone?"
Inconspicuous, you say?
"Uh… why?"
Her fingers brush the stray hairs out of her face.
"Oh, come on-"
He's grinning
(Why is he grinning? He has no reason to be grinning… or does he?)
"Let me guess: He's tall-"
Unless…
Oh no.
"-And blond-"
"With the most gorgeous green eyes you'll ever see, yeah, yeah, stop bragging about yourself."
She interrupts, because she already knows he knows. After all, she told him.
"What—But I—"
"Shut it cat. I need to go to bed."
Her mouth spreads into a full smile.
She knows what she needed to know.
"Goodnight."
Standing on tip-toes, her lips press into the soft skin of his cheek, brushing the smooth fabric of his mask. Then she drops into her room and locks the skylight, eyes dancing with a devious gleam.
"Goodnight?"
Chat stood, rooted on the same tile, for a full 60 seconds before leaving.
XoX
Part -2 would be a little more work, of course.
By now she had already a big hunch that Chat and Adrien were, well, kind of the same.
She had laid in bed all night thinking about it, and had determined only one thing: She'd have to ask Adrien.
But not as Marinette; oh no, she'd do it as Ladybug.
The only problem? Catching Adrien alone when he wasn't Chat.
XoX
"Asssss—youuuuuuu-wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish!"
Adrien grins at her from the other end of the auditorium.
Marinette's hands raises to her face.
"What have I done?"
She cries melodramatically.
"And cut!"
Nino calls out.
"What did I do wrong?"
"Everything!"
Marinette shakes her head at Nino.
"Why do people keep saying that? I'm not that bad!"
"Are you the director here?"
"If I was-"
"No! So stop arguing with the authorities!"
Adrian made his way over to Marinette and slung his arm over her shoulder (only a little hesitantly; after all, they were friends, right? Friends could do casual contact like arms on shoulders; besides, they'd done worse things…).
"I don't know what their problem is."
He whispers, half smiling as Nino confers with Alya over what could be done about Marinette.
"I think you're doing great."
"Thanks."
Marinette smiles up at him, and snakes her arm around his waist (casual contact; friends).
"Say, are you doing anything this weekend?"
He stiffens when she asks.
"Uh, it's, like, totally okay if you are, I just… uh, wanted to rehearse… well, without them, cause… you know, they always interrupt, and that's not a bad thing, just, well-"
"Actually,"
He interrupts, his posture has relaxed.
"My dad has a couple shoots I've got to do. He'd be pretty mad if I tried to ditch them; they're really important to him."
"Oh."
She hopes her voice portrays the sympathy she feels for him, and she squeezes him lightly.
"Okay. That's fine. Don't worry about it."
Unwinding her arms from around his waist, she tugs his arm.
"Come on! We'd better see what the authorities want from us!"
XoX
Adrien's shoots would end at six, the website said, on Saturday.
This would be so easy.
xOx
Six thirty, Saturday evening, Ladybug crouches behind the roof decorations atop the Agreste Mansion.
Adrien had arrived twenty minutes ago, but she wasn't ready; the plan had seemed so simple a couple days ago, and it still was, but now she felt nervous and afraid… Acting like Ladybug with Adrien was one thing, but actually being her … well, now she wasn't sure.
"You can do this."
She whispers to herself.
"Imagine he's Chat… just Chat."
That wasn't that hard, since he actually might be…
Okay.
She could do this.
Down dropped her yo-yo; now she tapped on the window; from her hanging position, she could see everything upside-down. Floor and shelves, and clothes on the floor, and then there were legs and feet moving towards her- The window opens.
Spinning herself right side up, she smiles; big.
"Hi!"
"Ladybug?"
Up close she can see how big his eyes are, and wow! They are so pretty!
"How's it going?"
Please don't make this any more awkward than it has to be!
"Uh, good. I mean, really good! Especially, uh, you!"
What? Adrien stuttering? Chat stuttering? His mouth snapped shut, and he stared at his feet. Oh, this just got better: Chat speechless! He hadn't even cracked a pun!
"That's great! Can I come in?"
It might not have been possible, but his eyes widened even more.
"Yah! Yeah, come in… you wouldn't want someone to catch you, or anything, haha…uh, not like they could, but…um."
His cheeks were red.
"Thanks! By the way, your room is huge! Seriously, a skater ramp? And a basketball court? But whatever, I can to talk to you."
It was weird; Chat would have said something by now.
Her eyes scan the room again.
"Oh no!"
"What? What's wrong?"
Adrien looks around wildly looking for whatever could have disturbed his lady(well, if he was chat, that's what he'd be thinking) but she pretended to ignore them as she stared, enamored, at the video game displayed on his screen.
"You play this too?"
"Uh… yeah?"
"Can I play? It's been forever since I played that!"
"Well, sure, um…"
Awkwardly, he indicated the controllers, which Ladybug, giddy with finding out Adrien played, picked up both at the same time.
"Wow, these are nice, where did you find them?"
"Oh, the controllers? Well, there's this place—"
And that broke the ice. The two of them ended up chatting about all things gamer, and then they just had to play this game or that, and Ladybug soon found herself completely forgetting her mission.(What could she say, video games and Adrien did that to her)
"…I mean, how long have you been playing? I have like, the highest score ever on that, and you just… trounced me!"
"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies!"
Ladybug smirked, and then leaned closer.
"Maybe she was born with it, maybe it's—"
"Okay, that's taking it too far! Seriously, no one should be that good."
"Yeah, my dad taught me everything I know. And by taught I mean totally trashed me until I started to beat him."
"No mercy?"
"None."
"What a childhood."
"I will forever be scarred."
They both burst out laughing. Adrien looked so happy—like he did when they were at rehearsal and Alya yelled at Marinette for the hundredth time that she wasn't doing it right, or when they went out to eat afterwards and Marinette laughed at his puns… His puns!
If that wasn't proof right there that he was Chat, she didn't know what was.
"So…"
Adrien began
"Why, um, why are you here?"
Of course he wanted to know, since it was normally the cat that did all the evening visiting.
"I heard you had a long day and wanted to cheer you up."
She said honestly (not so honestly, because she really was playing detective on his alter-ego and her love-life)
"Oh… That's nice. Do you normally… you know, visit civilians?"
"Only the cute ones."
Oops, she broke Adrien… again.(She had to stop doing that)
"Well, actually I'm here cause this girl, she goes to your school, she told me you had a full weekend of modeling and wondered if I couldn't visit you sometime cause your dad is kind of strict and she couldn't. So here I am!"
He blinked at her, surprised.
"Who… who was that?"
"The girl? Ohh, I probably shouldn't tell you… It was supposed to be a secret and all."
He was staring at her again, his eyebrows creased, thinking.
"I think… I think I know who. It was Marinette, wasn't it?"
Was she that obvious? Probably.
"Yah…"
"Would you tell her thank you? Wait… I'll tell her myself."
He stood up and held out his hand to her.
"Thanks for coming; I… it was great to have you. It's always great to see you. Well, around Paris, that is."
"Is this goodbye?"
She said, as she found them next to the window.
"Uh… yeah. See you around, I guess."
He shuffled awkwardly, like he wanted to say something, to do something, but he wasn't sure…
"Yeah, I'll see you around."
She said brightly hoping on the windowsill.
"Au revoi—"
"Wait!"
His hand grasped her wrist and pulled her back.
"Just once."
He whispered and kissed her both cheeks
"Next time you see Marinette, tell her I'm all hers now."
He's smiling up at her, but she's confused, and then it dawns on her: Adrien is so Chat, and both Chat and Adrien just chose Marinette over Ladybug….and Adrien did love Ladybug, but didn't think she cared for him.
In other words, both her crush and her crush liked her and her… since they were the same person.
Well. That kind of made this easier.
"When I see her."
She answered, and this time he allowed to her to leave.
It didn't take long for her to start laughing; she hadn't even reach her balcony before the she burst into giggles, shaking from head to toe before collapsed on her bed in a fit of hysteria.
"Adrien is Chat!"
Her transformation faded and a very cross looking Tikki appeared.
"And he has no idea you're Ladybug."
"Adrien is Chat, and Chat is Adrien, and neither of them quipped a pun all night! Did you see him standing there speechless when he saw me? Ahahaha!"
"Yes, and you didn't tell him who you were."
"Adrien said to tell me he loved me! And he told me he had a crush on me and me… Oh, this is so funny!"
"He doesn't know."
"I'm gonna tell Alya!"
"Marinette, you really ought to be telling Adrien."
But Marinette paid Tikki no mind as she fingered through her contacts for Alya.
"He kissed me! Oh, that stupid cat, he stole that goodnight thing from me! I'm gonna lecture him but good about civilian creativity..."
"But he kissed you on both cheeks; he modified it."
Tikki had figured out that her chosen was too giddy to actually listen to her, so she contented herself with the knowledge that at least Marinette hadn't started over thinking anything yet. That was what normally happened with Ladybug, and it made everything drag on for weeks.
"Still… Alya!"
The other girls face appeared on the screen.
"Marinette, do you even know how late it is right now?"
"Alya, I have the most wonderful news!"
"Is it that you're going to hang up within the next thirty seconds so I can go to bed?"
"Nope! Even better than that!"
"This better be good."
Alya muttered to herself
"Adrien proposed and you're getting married tomorrow."
"What?! Oh, uh, no, but you're really close!"
"What, really?"
Alya's expression perked up.
"Adrien likes me!"
"Girl, I already told you that."
"No, but he told me!"
"In PERSON? Is he THERE?"
"No…"
"Then how…"
"He asked Ladybug to tell me."
"HE WHAT! I am so gonna get Nino for going the easy route. He went and got LADYBUG to tell you he liked you! I can't even—That's so romantic. Adrien you are smooth—"
"I wouldn't exactly be calling him smooth."
Marinette commented, thinking about every time in the last twenty-four hours Adrien had stuttered whenever he so much as glanced at her. Alya didn't hear her anyways, she was too busy fangirling.
"All this time! All that effort! Uhhh! Wait! Just a minute Marinette, I have to call you back; inspiration has struck! I must call Nino!"
Marinette was biting her lip to keep from laughing as her friend hung up. She had the best friends ever.
Beside her, Tikki watched her patiently.
"Funny."
"What?"
"Well, a few weeks ago you were moaning about how you and Adrien would never work out, and now look at you: absolutely hopeless."
Marinette giggled.
"I'm a lost cause, aren't I?"
Tikki shook her head solemnly.
"I hate to say it, but I'm afraid so."
Then the two of them fell on her bed, fits of hysteria shaking both of them.
Sometimes… it's okay to be a lost cause.
Honestly, the people who matter wouldn't have you any other way.
xOx
(Another long and boring) Author's Note (which you probably don't want to read): This is the last chapter. La Finale. Estamos terminados. Yay!
Only not really, because the play must go on!
I feel like I owe you an explanation(even if I don't).
It's been at least a month since I've posted anything, and you might have wondered where I've been. (Here and there, nowhere really)
I didn't post anything because I had nothing to post; I didn't like what I wrote, so I didn't write. Thank Goodness, I feel better!
Now, when I started this story, there were three things I didn't want to do with it:
Make it a reveal fic(woops!)
Update it sporadically (ummm)
Make it longer than four chapters (hahahahaha)
Last night as I was finishing up the last chapter, I realized that not only was this story nowhere near done, I didn't want it to be done either. All the changes I made, despite my goals, are what made this story this story, and I love it.
So while this is the last chapter of this part of the story, there is a sequel coming:
How to court your princess: A comedy (part 2)
(I don't know why I keep calling them comedies; I think what I'm trying to let ya'll know not to take anything too seriously)
Adios and see you later!
