Chapter 2:

NO. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, willing away the last few seconds of her life.

NO!. Nononono This is not happening!

Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs. What could she do? What could she possibly say to make this OK? Why was Adrien even still in her head?! She was absolutely, without a doubt, completely caught up in the wonder that was Chat Noir: his lips, his tongue, his kisses, his… him.

"Mari…"

Oh god the way he said her name. No longer heavy with emotion, desire, need… Now… unsure. Fearful, hesitant. Breaking.

With one word, she had driven a knife into his heart. Her sweet protector, her light-hearted and flirtatious companion… their easy relationship that she had come to treasure was gone forever. If she had his Cataclysm power, she would seriously consider using it in that moment to take herself out of existence.

Her chest burned. She had forgotten to breathe. As her chest recoiled in a sharp inhale, she felt the weight of his head, still resting on her—

She was still holding his head against her neck!

Her eyes popped open in an instant. Her fingers, still entwined in his hair, held firm. She forcibly released her fingers, knowing that this would likely be the last time she would touch him. Oh God but how she wanted him… Why did she have to say-

"Oh, Chat… I…" she quietly pleaded.

Her eyes sank from the ceiling like cold honey sliding down the side of a jar. As they came to rest on his golden head, her eyes widened as she realized she had called him by the wrong name twice in the span of a minute. His perfectly disheveled hair was now devoid of the two leather triangles identifying him as Chat Noir. He had de-transformed! She had literally destroyed him. Her Chat was gone.

Her hands began to shake as, now released from her iron grip, his head began to lift.

As if in slow motion, his eyes came into view, gazing at her from under blonde bangs.

Not the glowing green orbs twinkling with mischievousness of Chat Noir, but the piercing emerald irises of Adrien Agreste.


Adrien was frozen in shock.

She had said his name. Not Chat Noir, his real name.

"Mari…" He didn't know what to say to her. What was she thinking? How long had she known?

Plagg had tumbled out of his ring, disoriented and confused, leaving him painfully exposed. Even though she apparently knew his true identity, he longed for the security offered by Chat Noir's mask.

"Oh, Chat… I…" she had whispered. But it was too late. She knew.

He inhaled her scent deeply, longingly, and forced himself to meet her eyes.

Beautiful, bluebell eyes, wide with an unvoiced question. He searched them, swam in their depths, trying to memorize their specific shade of blue, to remember this moment for a lifetime. And he was lost.

"A-Adrien?"

His name came to his ears again, a whispered question. Like bells dancing in his soul. He brought his hand to her face again, this time no glove to serve as a barrier between them, allowing him to feel the softness of her skin, the heat of her blush….

"Please…. Say it again." He heard himself speak the words before he said them, as if they had materialized on their own in his voice. His eyes pleaded to her, his soul called to her. There was nothing he needed more in that moment than to hear her speak his name, one more time. The rest be damned. He needed it, more than air. He needed her to accept him, to see Adrien, to want him the way she had wanted her masked superhero moments before. He had opened himself to her, even if accidentally, and he needed—

"Adrien…"

She repeated his name again, trying to convince herself that it was real. He was really here. He was really Chat Noir. ADRIEN was CHAT NOIR. Her fantasy crush and her reliable hero were one and the same. AND he had kissed her!

As she spoke his name again, a fire sparked to life in his dazzling green eyes; a heat that took her breath away and made her heart race. If he had asked for her heart in that moment, she felt it would leap out of her throat and into his hands on its own accord. Slowly, purposefully, he was guiding her toward him again, into the depths of those burning green eyes. Just before their lips met, he paused. She heard his shaky breath as he inhaled, mere inches from her. His scent washed over her; Cedar… honey… and the night. Overcome with a rush of courage usually reserved for her superheroine side, she claimed his waiting lips in a gentle kiss.

He was at war with himself. Shaking slightly as he returned her tender kiss, tasting her soft, sweet lips as if for the first time, he at once wanted to run away and to become one with her. He longed to give her everything of himself and to possess her, to protect her from the world and to ravish her, to be shy and respectful Adrien Agreste and daring seductive Chat Noir… and he didn't trust his resolve to suppress the very animal-like desire growing in him.

Breaking the kiss and forcing himself to part with her, he called out: "Plagg, claws out!" drawing the still-reeling kwami back into his miraculous.

"I guess the Chat's out of the bag, then?" He conjured all of Chat's confidence, striving to sound as nonchalant as possible as he stood and stretched, turning away from her and moving toward the window in an attempt to hide the physical evidence of her effect on him. She kissed him as Adrien! He needed to calm down. He had to process this with a clear head. She knew.

Her mind was blank. All she could do was stare at him as he stretched, so fluid in his movements, again clad in tight black leather as Chat Noir. She felt drawn to him in a way she had never felt toward anyone before. She would have gone after him if her jelly-like legs could have supported her. Instead, she just watched him, mesmerized, as a dazed smile crept across her face.

He glanced back at her then, still avoiding facing her in his current state, Chat's signature grin lighting up his face, and winked.

"Good night, Princess." He called to her as he leapt from the window, in a sweet, sincere tone that was all Adrien.