Author's Note: *looks at almost two-year accidental hiatus* Hi. It's me. I'm the problem, it's me.
Hello spice lovers! I have not forsaken you! (I have, in the interim, read like fifty romance novels so don't worry it was time well spent.) And I definitely have not forsaken, Chatdrien! Enjoy the penultimate chapter. The final chapter is already written and set to publish next week. But maybe if you beg I can be persuaded to release early? ;)
Also thanks to Captain_Meowvel for beta-ing this, cackling with me over innuendo, being a writing superstar, inspiring me to blow dust off my projects, and being a general boss queen.
Adrien felt the hot flush of a body pressed against his and groaned. His arms snaked around her frame - so delicate, so strong - and squeezed her delectable derriere.
It elicited a feminine gasp.
Which had him opening his mouth to capture her lips entirely.
"Chat." His superhero name escaped her mouth in a breathy whoosh.
He kissed her again, angling his face, and daring to swoop his tongue across hers.
She responded in kind. Her fingers reached up to thread themselves through his hair. He loved it when she messed with his hair. Especially when her fingertips grazed his sensitive ears.
The bell of his super suit made a little jingle as one of her hands dragged itself from his head to pull it down, his suit flapping open eagerly unconstrained by the zipper.
Her warm hand reached for the skin newly exposed on his chest, followed by her warm lips. Then, without breaking contact whatsoever, she jumped on top of him, straddling both of her legs around him.
Adrien hoisted her up and beckoned her lips return to his, his arms encircling her as she ground so wantonly against that most dangerous part of him.
"Marinette." A whisper escaped him.
"Marinette?" The girl in question leaned back to look at him, holding onto his shoulders.
Bluebell eyes blinked back at him.
Surrounded by a red mask.
With polka dots.
"Who is Marinette?" she asked.
"Ladybug." His lips formed the shape of his superhero partner's name and he felt his face turn ashen. A throb in his nether regions betrayed him.
She squeezed him tighter with her legs, and with one hand, reached into his suit to hold his hardness. "Forget about Marinette, Chat. I'm here."
Adrien gulped.
Felt his dick pulse in her hand.
And then suddenly awoke to the sound of an alarm blaring.
His morning wood standing at attention.
Plagg yelling at him to shut off his alarm.
Oh. Oh God.
He rubbed at his bleary eyes. What the hell was that? Ladybug? No. No way. It was Marinette. He thought it was Marinette.
It was always and only Marinette.
He hurried to the shower and turned on the cold water tap. Repressed a yelp as it hit his skin. Today was the day he would finally get a chance to talk to Ladybug about Marinette. What were his dreams doing - confusing the two? Ugh. He dipped his head under the freezing cold stream. Waited for the blood in his body to move away from his dick to his brain.
She felt so much like Marinette, he thought bitterly to himself.
Stupid Ladybug.
Stupid hormones.
His princess deserved better.
Sighing, he began the process of lathering his body.
She deserved everything. And faded feelings for Ladybug be damned. Tonight, he would give Marinette, the only 'her' he cared about in a non-platonic way, everything.
That evening, with patrol upon him, the Paris skyline was full of famous landmarks. The Arc de Triomphe. The Eiffel Tower. The Montparnasse building. The Seine, like a spider's web cutting through it all.
But a silhouette that never got old for the citizens of Paris was the shadow of the cat and the bug, racing through the city on patrol.
Being Chat Noir meant so much to him.
It meant freedom.
The ability to shake off the confines of parental expectations.
Of being the perfect model.
And the perfect student.
And the perfect son.
As Chat Noir, he could be so much more. It's not that he wasn't himself without the mask, but that he was more of himself when he put it on. Like other facets of his personality got to shine more.
And his favourite facet was the part that reflected the beauty that was Marinette.
Even thinking about her, he was sure, put a stupid look on his face.
And thinking about her in a certain way - well, he was a superhero, but he was also only human. He was pretty glad that certain parts of his suit held him in pretty tightly, otherwise his enamour for his girlfriend would be pretty evident at pretty inconvenient times–
THWACK!
"Meowch," he grumbled, bending down to retrieve his staff after unwittingly introducing his face to a billboard. A billboard of himself no less. The irony never got any better when he hit (on) himself.
"What are you grinning at?" he challenged the billboard, his voice coming out a little grouchy.
"Cat down?" The zipping of a yoyo followed the question as his superhero partner Ladybug tracked backwards, bending down herself to offer a hand to help him up.
He studiously avoided her hand. "My head was in the clouds." Which was a nicer way of saying his mind was in the gutter about his girlfriend. His actual girlfriend. Not his superhero partner who managed to masquerade as her in his dreams.
"Care to share?"
"Definitely not!"
She was inspecting the area beneath his belt a little too close for comfort. It held him in pretty tightly, yes - but maybe not so much under direct scrutiny. Adrien turned around.
Ladybug leaned towards him and prompted further, "You've been in the clouds a lot lately."
She had him there. He'd definitely been absent-minded of late. He bent over his staff, twirled it a little on the way down for good measure.
"This staff does go pretty high."
He hoped to God she would not recognize that as a double entendre. It was not his fault that he punned under duress.
She didn't. Ladybug continued, "In a good way! You seem… happy."
As he turned around to face her again, he caught her smiling widely.
"I've been seeing someone." Cautiously, he smiled back.
"Oh! I'm very happy for you, Chat." She took both of his hands in hers, shaking them with such hearty congratulations that his bell felt the need to join in and jingle as his whole body flopped about with the force of her enthusiasm. "It seems like she makes you happy as well?"
This answer he was confident in. "Like a cat who got his cream."
A blush spread across the part of her cheeks that peeked out from under the spotted mask, her lips opening in a little "o" shape. "Is-is that too much information?"
"A gentleman never tells." His smugness was probably telling too much, even without the words. He licked his lips.
"Does a gentleman tell anything at all? Does she know about–" Ladybug gestured to her mask, then to his.
At this, he took a deep breath. It was time to let the cat out of the bag. Or get the motion started in any case. "Ladybug," he began, "I know that as the Guardian, you are charged with protecting the Miraculous. I know that you have been very strict about identities."
She nodded slowly, her pigtails bopping with her head movement.
"And I very much respect that. But things have changed in my life. And it's very important for me that my girlfriend knows who I really am."
Ladybug exhaled at that. "I know I was really against identity reveals and you've been for them since basically day one. And I appreciate your respect for my wishes. You mean the world to me, Chat. You're one of the most important people in my life. You're one of my best friends."
Chat felt his heart warm at the compliments. "And you are one of mine. Friends." He emphasised to himself, or maybe it was to her– he wasn't entirely sure. "I respect you so much, Ladybug."
The corner of her mouth lifted in a tremulous smile. "Thank you for saying that. But your respect notwithstanding, sometimes I make mistakes. And me not taking your feelings on board about the identity reveal is one that's been weighing heavily on me lately."
And then he heard something he'd never heard much in Ladybug's voice before - uncertainty. Ladybug so rarely lowered her walls. She took a deep breath.
"People can change," she continued. "I hope that's true. I think I have." The steady glow of midnight in Paris lit up her masked face and he could see the determined set of her jaw. "You should tell Marinette who you are."
Wait– when did he mention his girlfriend was Marinette?
Did Ladybug actually remember her?
Know her?
But Ladybug didn't let him finish his thought. "I gotta go," she blurted, and the next second, all he could hear was the zipping extension of her yoyo echoing in the distance.
Something really was up with her.
Oh well. He could ask her about it during their next patrol. For now, with tonight's patrol done, and the evening yet young, Chat calculated he had time for one more stop before home.
As he vaulted his way through the streets, he was sure his heartbeat jumped from a steady allegro to an excited presto. And it wasn't because of the exercise.
Marinette.
His Marinette.
He was on his way to see her.
And he was about to tell her who he was.
Author's Note: fingers crossed it (or somebody at least) goes down well for him ;D
