A/N: Hello mes chatons! First of all, sorry for delaying so much with this chapter. I had a serious case of writer's block and ehh, what can I say, progress was slow. Second of all, I want to thank all of you for all the amazing support and encouragement! You guys are the best, I'm really glad you're enjoying the fic so much.
So, about this chapter. This is where it's gonna start getting more noticeable that I've been to Disneyland, not WDW ^_^' but trust you me, I'm doing my research like a good little writer.
Also, I wanna give a big enormous shout-out to mikuluver ( .com) for the wonderful fanart she came up with! I absolutely loved it and it made my day. ( post/142100390179/so-i-read-chapter-4-of-across-the-pond-by)
So yes, as usual, thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: Hawkdaddy and Zag Toons own ML, Disney is owned by the claws of Capitalism.
Adrien promised himself that he wouldn't let anything in between him and his free time. He would ditch every single one of his routines, despite what he promised his father. These two weeks he would be free. So yes, he was more than annoyed at himself when he woke up at five a.m. sharp, without the need of an alarm.
Gym time, he thought. He usually woke up at five a.m. during weekdays to hit the gym for exactly one point five hours. After his routine, he'd have fifteen minutes to shower, fifteen to dress up, half an hour to have breakfast: a cup of greek yogurt with half a cup of oatmeal and almonds, and half a serving of fruit, with either a glass of water or half a cup of coffee. Then half an hour to drive to school.
Rinse and repeat.
He groaned at himself, feeling the impulse to get up. Old habits die hard, after all. Even if they were habits he did not intend to make in the first place.
He was bent on staying in bed though, so he snuggled against his pillow and closed his eyes, making the most of the fact that it was still dark outside.
Ladybug might be in the other room.
His eyes popped open, and like that, all remnants of somnolence were gone.
He sighed, allegedly a lot less excited than when he went to bed with the prospect still sweet and unprocessed by the logical part of his brain.
Plagg did not answer his question last night. He was asleep- or he pretended to be, Adrien suspected. He wasn't dumb, he knew Plagg kept a lot of information from him mostly for his own sake, but sometimes he wished he wasn't so cryptic.
So, what if Marinette was Ladybug? The idea twisted his stomach in a knot. He could be imagining all of this, out of desperation, out of a need to indulge his fantasies, and he hated it. He hated that he was forcing the idea of Ladybug onto Marinette. So what if she smirked like her, moved like her, winked like her, spoke like her the night before. It didn't mean anything.
He sighed, more conflicted than ever.
"Plagg?" he whispered. "Plagg, please wake up, I need to ask you something."
Plagg emerged from the covers, his eyes shining like a bright neon light. He yawned and glared at Adrien with irritation. "Can't this wait until morning?"
"It's already morning."
"Until there's actual daylight out," he said, with an edge of disgust for the teen's early bird habits.
"No, it can't. I need to ask you about Ladybug's identity."
"What of it?" Plagg yawned again and snuggled back into his cocoon, uninterested in the turn the conversation took.
"I was wondering… I have this theory and since you- well, you always keep things from me and I was just wondering… it's a stupid idea but-."
"Out with it, kid. What is it?"
He inhaled sharply and spitted out the phrase he had such difficulty pronouncing the night before. "Is Marinette Ladybug?"
"Why would I know that?"
Adrien groaned. "Come on Plagg, I know you know who Ladybug is. You just choose to not tell me."
"Yes, and there's a reason for that."
He felt slightly irritated at Plagg. A little wounded, he said, "You know I've been trying to figure out who she is for ages, Plagg! Why wouldn't you tell me?"
"Because, you forget, she doesn't want you to know- or didn't, anyway, that's not the issue."
"Wait, what?"
Plagg muttered something to himself along the lines of, "Shouldn't have said that."
"She wants to know who I am?" He said, half to himself, half to Plagg. But mostly to himself. Ladybug wanted to reveal her identity, after all these years, finally! "But how do you even know that?"
"That's not the issue."
"Plagg!"
"Adrien!"
Adrien sighed and sat up. "I don't understand why you always have to be so difficult! I've always done as you asked, haven't I?"
"And I still don't understand why you're still so obsessed with knowing Ladybug's identity after all this time."
"Because I'M IN LOVE WITH HER, Plagg! I'm not in love with the suit, I'm in love with her. Whoever it is."
The kwami squinted at him and flew right in front of his nose, poking it as he bombarded him with accusations. "You didn't seem to remember that when you were dancing with Marinette. Or in the airplane. Or every night when you text her at ungodly hours. That's not Ladybug, Adrien. Ladybug only shows up when there's an akuma to cleanse."
"That's not true," Adrien defended. "She's Ladybug, with or without the suit." He sighed. "You said she wants me to know who she is behind the mask. What difference does it make if you tell me?"
"So you're just playing that poor girl Marinette, then?"
"What- no. Not at all. I love- I mean." He groaned. "This is why I want to know, Plagg! Because just as I was beginning to get over Ladybug with Marinette… she just, ugh! She just keeps reminding me of her! And I hate to think that I'm falling for her because she reminds me of Ladybug. It makes me feel like shit. Marinette doesn't deserve that. And I just can't take it anymore, it's driving me insane."
"So what do you think?"
"What do I think of what?"
Plagg quirked an eyebrow, as if pointing out the obvious. "Hell, I don't know, you fun-size cat! That's why I'm asking you!"
"I'm not supposed to tell you," Plagg hissed. "That's not how it works, you two are supposed to figure it out on your own."
"…So is that a yes?"
"I'd slap you if I could."
"So what am I supposed to do then? Go up to Marinette and go all like 'Hey girl, are you Ladybug? Because I'm totally Chat Noir, you know, that superhero you have a crush on? I KNOW, IT'S PAWFUL, RIGHT?'"
Plagg shrugged. "You did say Marinette is the only person you'd trust with your identity. What difference does it make if she's Ladybug or not?"
"But what if she's not?"
"For the love of- okay kid, you're wearing my patience thin now so listen carefully. A word of advice, listen to your instinct and ask her."
"But-."
"No buts. Just trust yourself, it's usually enough. You two- Ladybug and Chat Noir- are meant to be together. You're Ying and Yang, a compliment of each other. You catch my drift? Sometimes you're so opposite you two hate each other's guts, but most of the time you end up together, as in, for life. There, is that what you wanted to hear? Can I go back to sleep now?"
It was not, but Adrien didn't dare to push Plagg further. He nodded.
With an irritated huff, he hissed, "Thanks. I swear by the ring, most of you are always lovesick. But, boy, do you take the prize home!"
So there was a reason why Plagg hated romance. He must have already heard it all from other cats before him. He felt sympathy, not for Plagg, but the others. You'd think a god would be more understanding sometimes!
After Plagg buried himself in the covers and silence settled again, Adrien decided he could stay in bed no more. His thoughts made him restless and his body ached to find an outlet to the stress. Being that Plagg couldn't be bothered to transform Adrien after that little argument, he opted to get out of bed and go for a run.
It was nice to feel the cool air before humidity rose again. The oxygen coursing through his body gave him a better grasp on the situation. Seven miles and two hundred crunches, push-ups, and squats later, the idea of revealing his identity to Marinette was not so hard to conceive.
He didn't have to do it today, hell, he didn't even have to do it in this continent. It could wait until they went back to France. But in the meantime, he developed a plan: to gather as much evidence as he could and hint her as much as possible without giving himself away entirely. There was still Alya and Nino to think about, after all. So maybe he'd go easy on the flirting, but gear up on the pun and banter. He was already halfway through, anyway, already ironically roleplaying their alter egos.
"Yeah, I can work with this," he assured himself as he quietly slid back into the suite, looking forward to a bath.
It was seven and dawn would be breaking soon, but none of his friends displayed any sign of life. Nino did not so much as shuffle when he entered the room to grab his things. The girls' room still was pitch black, as they had shut the curtains completely close. They didn't even notice Adrien turned on the bathroom's light. He started wondering whether this was the norm in sleeping patterns among teens. It probably was.
After showering he realized he had forgotten to pick a top and was suddenly thankful for his friends' deep sleep. As Chat Noir, he'd normally boast about his physique, especially in front of Ladybug. As Adrien, well, he was a model. He was used to people looking at him half naked, it was in the job description. But the possibility that Marinette was actually Ladybug made him really nervous. Because, yeah, he flirted and boasted but he never really expected those moves to work. So for good measure, he shut down the bathroom's lights before emerging.
To his bad luck, Marinette was generally a heavy sleeper, but the nights' events had given her so many things to think about that her sleep had been light, and the sounds of him showering disturbed her. Him coming out of the bathroom amidst the darkness was what finally brought her to her senses.
Oblivious as usual, she was not thinking as Marinette when she saw the shadow creeping by the door. She thought as Ladybug. And Ladybug's first reaction of course was to shout and pin him down to the floor.
An akuma! No, they were in Orlando. A BURGLAR.
"HOLY SHIT!" Marinette screamed, jumping at Adrien's still unidentified figure. "Alya, someone got into the room!"
Adrien landed with a thud, feeling Marinette's weight over him.
Alya, alarmed by the sudden surprise, yelled too and scrambled for the lights, but by then realization, shame, and Adrien's pleas already had hit her.
"It's me, it's me!"
Next thing they knew, Nino came in rushing with a chair from the living room as his weapon of choice, yelling both in fear and in a cry for battle. "Leave them alone you- Adrien?"
He found them with Alya holding the bedside lamp, Adrien, bare-chested, lying on the ground, and Marinette on top of him.
"Eh… I need some context here."
"Sorrysorrysorry!" Marinette was blushing furiously and made a point of quickly scrambling off from Adrien, hitting her foot with the edge of the bed as she did. She hissed a curse at herself.
Now normally, Adrien would have reacted cool as a cucumber but that wasn't the case in that moment.
Ladybug is on top of you. LADYBUG. IS. ON. TOP. OF. YOU.
"Are you okay?" Marinette asked, offering her hand to help him to his feet. "Oh my gosh, sorry! I didn't realize- I thought you were a burglar or something!"
The crimson blush that colored Adrien's entire face and his awestruck expression forced Marinette to stop blabbering. For a moment there, she thought she gave him a concussion.
"Adrien?"
Ladybug. She's ladybug.
"B-bug. I mean, yeah. 'M fine." He got to his feet and remember he didn't have a shirt on. And Marinette was watching -gawking was more like it, actually. And Marinette was probably Ladybug, so Ladybug was gawking at him.
He felt dizzy.
"I'm uh… I need to go." He darted to the exit, leaving a rather confused Nino, Alya, and Marinette.
Nino closed the door behind himself to let the girls get ready for the day, as soon as he did, girlish giggling trailed behind him.
"What was all that about?" Alya asked.
"I have no idea!" Marinette was too endeared by his reaction. "I feel so bad I pinned him down like that, though."
"Girl, I tell ya, I wouldn't want to be in a fist fight against you! Poor Adrien!"
"I'll have to find a way to make it up to him."
"Oh, didn't you see his face? No harm done, methinks!"
"Alya!"
The brunette grinned. "I've never seen him act like that. Did you teach him to speak blabber or what?"
Marinette rolled her eyes. "Don't make fun of him! Poor Adrien must've been so confused."
Alya smirked as she opened the curtains to let the sun in and disposed to pick her outfit for the day. "I don't know, if you ask me, I think it's just the secondary effects of last night."
"Last night?"
"Come on." She smiled knowingly. "We saw how you guys were handling it in the dancefloor."
Marinette blushed. "Oh."
"And let me just say, bien joue, my friend. Bien joue indeed. He couldn't take his eyes off of you, girl!"
Marinette bit her lip and allowed a smile on her lips. "Really?"
"Yeah!"
They both giggled.
The girls hurried to shower so Nino could have his turn, which meant Marinette had to be fast when picking her clothes, and she hated that. One of her favorite things to do in the morning was to plan her outfits, it always put her on a good mood. She settled for a pair of high-waist denim shorts, a red crop tank top with white spots, and black canvas shoes. Alya wore sandals, hip-high denim shorts, and a patterned pastel pink tank top with orange details that Marinette had confectioned herself. That was the first time she had tried to weave the back of a shirt, and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. It really complimented Alya's frame.
They let in Adrien while they finished doing their makeup and waited for Nino to be ready. Like the day before, Adrien couldn't help but notice the girls' outfits, especially Marinette's, knowing that she made most of the things she wore.
She's so talented, he thought, unable to help the creeping blush on his face.
He watched as she did her makeup, noticed how she handled the utensils. He was willing to bet Marinette knew how to do professional makeup, she had the type of brushes and products they used in runway shows and photoshoots. She also applied them the way they're supposed to, not a lot of girls knew how to do that.
She made these cute faces when she applied the mascara and eyeliner, and absentmindedly sung to the music playing on Alya's phone. Oh, and that nude pink lipstick she chose sure looked great on her. Gosh, she looked pretty. A sigh escaped him, luckily without her noticing.
Buzz. Buzz.
But Alya did.
He unlocked his phone and opened his Snapchat. This picture wasn't atrocious, but captured him mid-trance, with this stupid smile plastered on his face, totally oblivious to everything around him but the girl he was staring at.
"You poor unfortunate soul."
He glared at Alya and texted, "Help a brother out."
She chuckled. "DUDE. Hello? Where have u been the last 4 yrs?"
"what?"
Alya shrugged. Oops. Too much information.
Timely, Nino came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and ready to go.
They grabbed a quick breakfast and were on their way as soon as the bus arrived.
First stop: Magic Kingdom.
The four couldn't make coherent sounds for at least their first ten minutes in the park. They only communicated by squealing, shouting, pointing, and emphasized "oh my gods."
The sweet smells, the bubbling sounds of people enjoying themselves, the catchy movie soundtracks in the background, the colors, the rides, it all amounted to a crazed, collective hype. Alya was the voice of reason, when she managed to find an information booth with maps.
"So question is, where should we go first?"
"Space Mountain!" Adrien shouted.
"No, no, let's go to Splash Mountain," Nino shouted, a little louder.
"Please let's go to Pirates of the Caribbean!" Marinette begged. "I love that movie!"
Before Alya could say anything, they started arguing about why their ride should go first.
"We're closer to Tomorrowland, guys!"
"Nuh uh, we're also close to Adventureland."
"Yeah, but we should go to Splash Mountain first to have time for our clothes to dry."
"Nino, it's hotter than hell right now," Adrien countered.
"Kids, kids, no fighting or we go back to the hotel," Alya intervened. "Besides it's still pretty early and we have time to- OH MY GOSH THE EARS!"
In her defense, Alya tried to be the adult of this argument. She really did. The fact that the Emporium store was right across her face with all kinds of cute Mickey Mouse themed products was not her fault at all.
Alya left the other three, still arguing, only to be dragged back to the street by Marinette, claiming no one would be helping with the three bags worth of merch she wanted to buy.
She only agreed after buying herself a pair of R2-D2 themed ears. Marinette herself bought hers -Minnie's, certain that by the end of the day she would manage to lose or ruin them.
"Oh, lowkey Minnie Mouse cosplay, I like it!" Alya pointed out.
"Glad you noticed," Marinette said, laughing. "Great. Aaand now we lost the guys," She sighed a bit frustrated. "I told them to stay here."
After minutes of fruitless wandering, both girls' phones buzzed with a Snapchat notification from Adrien.
Nino and him grinned smugly at the camera, they were in a queue line for one of the rides. "We're closer to Tomorrowland," and a winking cat emoticon, was Adrien's choice of footnote.
There was a new notification, from Nino this time. It was a picture of Space Mountain's welcome sign.
"Get in losers, we're going to space."
Marinette snorted. "Did he just quote Mean Girls?"
"He's a rare dying breed of dork, what can I say?" Alya said.
It wasn't hard to spot Nino and Adrien in the queue, given that they towered above most of the people in the line.
"Would you look at Adrien fucking Agreste," Alya said with a chuckle, and pulling her phone out to take a snap of him.
Marinette looked, and yes, she saw what Alya found funny. It made Marinette bite her lip. Nino and Alya had pointed out before Adrien's weird tendency to pose unconsciously, as if he was modelling. The way he shifted his weight under his feet, how he combed his hair back, his unassuming expression as he looked away every once in a while, the way his sunshades gave him this air of stardom. Marinette expected a catwalk to pop out of nowhere.
The boys waved at them when they received Alya's snap: "Does this child ever stop modelling?"
Fuck, Marinette thought when they finally joined them in the queue. He looks hotter up close.
But it was a different type of hot, she decided. It was familiar in a different way. He didn't look like Adrien, not exactly. His hair was ruffled and pointing in every direction, his shades covered just enough of his face, and that shit-eating grin he gave her for having gotten away with his ride being first…
Oh she knew exactly whom he looked like. She might as well stick a pair of cat ears on him and he'd be his doppelganger.
She gulped. Stupid Chat… Stupid Adrien for reminding me of Chat.
On his side, Adrien was glad for the sunshades and the warm day. For one, with the shades he could stare at her as much as he'd like and Marinette would be none the wiser, for two, his flush could be attributed to the heat so he didn't need to worry about being embarrassed.
She looked so cute with those Minnie ears on her, especially after she put on her own heart shaped sunshades. It did not escape him she picked her outfit consciously to resemble her.
"You didn't wait for us to buy the ears!" Nino whined.
"Hey. You were the ones who ran off," Alya said.
As they got closer to their turn in the ride, Marinette started to get a bit nervous. She could hear the screams all the way from the queue line. It was ridiculous, really, she had taken worse drops than a rollercoaster but at least she could control the fall when she was Ladybug. Here she was left at the mercy of engineers and computers. And she didn't trust those much.
Finally, it was their turn to board one of the carts. Nino and Alya took the front row and the other two followed on the next. Marinette jumped as the guy operating the ride verified the restraints were all put in place.
Marinette gulped.
Come on, Marinette. It can't be that bad.
Wrong. Very wrong.
Marinette had never screamed so loudly in her entire life. She wouldn't be surprised if she left Adrien deaf. Ugh, now he was probably going to think she was some sort of wuss.
"Lift your arms, Mari," he said, laughing as the ride took another steep dive.
"Never," she hissed.
Adrien laughed lightly, freely. The way he laughed that time with the umbrella. And she would have become absorbed in it, if it weren't for the ungodly drops. Marinette spilt every curse in her books, which caused for Adrien to laugh even more.
"Are you laughing with me or at me?" Marinette teased, slightly amused at his laughter seizure, after they went down from the cart. Marinette's hair was mercilessly undone, with her pigtails drooping and her decorative ears slanting off.
"With you, my lady, of course… pfff."
Marinette couldn't help but laugh, too. Especially after seeing their picture. Everyone's face on it was terrible. Including her flawless, extremely photogenic Adrien.
"No, Adrien, don't buy it!" a very mortified Marinette pleaded.
"Or… I could buy it… and print t-shirts with it."
Nino laughed.
"I'd show up to photoshoots with it, not even lying." Not everyone had a picture of Ladybug screaming her head off, after all. "I'll add 'Hire me,' for good measure." Adrien was proud and quite smug at the fact Nino was practically clutching his sides.
Marinette blushed, trying not to show how amused she was. "Oh yes, you'd be quite the envy in Fashion Week, I'm sure."
He grinned and casually slung his arm around her, a gesture that immediately caused a smirk on Alya. "I'm just playing, Mari! I'll just print a zoom-in of Nino's face."
"Dude, please," Nino said, somehow finding enough breath to banter back. "I'll print yours. We can match."
"We'll wear it on Valentine's," Adrien suggested.
"Sorry Adrien, but the man's taken," Alya said. "Come on, lovebirds. Let's get going."
After straightening up, they went onto Stitch's Great Escape and Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, where Adrien and Alya, surprisingly, got a real kick out of some several awful puns. The day progressed and with it, their coverage of the park. After Tomorrowland, they went to Fantasyland- Marinette's favorite. They visited Ariel, Cinderella, and Belle. Adrien had to bite his tongue several times, as he was close to call Marinette his princess, even though technically, she was Chat's. By Alya and Marinette's request, they rode the teacups and the carrousel, then the boys asked to finally get their ears. Nino got Stich's. Adrien got Mickey's.
Buzz, buzz. That was Marinette's phone.
"What are those ears made of?"
Buzz, buzz. A zoom-in into the ears. "*BOYFRIEND MATERIAL*"
"Copycat," Marinette said, gently nudging him as they went out of the store.
Adrien blushed but managed to stutter back, "Gr-great minds think alike, right?"
They came across Minnie and Mickey while taking pictures in front of Cinderella's castle, and managed to get both quite embarrassed, as the pair of mice acted delighted to see their "look-a-likes." They were asking for them to kiss each other. Since, you know, Mickey and Minnie were a thing.
"N-no, she's not my girlfriend…" Unfortunately. Adrien explained when the characters insisted and demonstrated how to give a proper kiss on the cheek. Minnie and
Mickey acted absolutely shocked at Adrien's declaration, and both kissed Marinette on each cheek- something Alya fortunately caught a picture of.
They gestured at Marinette as if saying, "Your turn!"
Adrien was blushing so much he could feel the heat radiating off his skin.
They tried another tactic, and went with Nino and Alya, who happily obliged as Marinette took a picture of them and the characters.
Mickey encouraged Adrien, but seeing he wasn't budging, he beckoned for Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen, who were across them, to come help. Mickey and Minnie explained the situation and it just got worse for Adrien. He wanted the earth to swallow him, or to jump into the castle's moat.
"Oh my, my," Tiana said. "You're a rather shy prince. Naveen could show you a thing or two, right sugar?"
"Of course, princess!" He spoke with a thick accent which hinted of a French or Italian tongue. "You see my boy, the key to a princess' heart is true love's kiss. You must not be shy, this is very beautiful princess in front of you!"
She twirled Marinette, who giggled. She was a bit embarrassed, yes, but she was having the time of her life. Adrien looked really cute when flustered, she discovered.
"And this is a rather handsome prince, no?" Naveen said to Marinette, who only managed to giggle. "Right, princess?"
"Y-yes…"
"See!"
But Marinette had a spurge of deviancy, and motivated by the same confidence that pushed to practically act like Ladybug without her costume, she got on her tiptoes and pecked Adrien's cheek herself.
Needless to say, Adrien could have fainted if he tried.
LADYBUG KISSED ME. MARINETTE KISSED ME. HELP. SOMEBODY PINCH ME.
The four characters exclaimed in delight and after achieving "true love's kiss," they waved goodbye at the quartet.
"That was so cute!" Alya said. "I got it all on video, I honestly was expecting them to break into a musical number!"
Marinette just kept glancing at Adrien, who had this lost expression on his face.
Nino had to snap his fingers in front of him as the girls walked to get on the line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
"You okay there, bro? How's your virginity?"
"Oh, shut the hell up," Adrien said, even more embarrassed.
Nino chuckled. "Sorry man, it's just sometimes… god, you two could give people cavities if you set your mind to it."
Regaining a little bit of his crumbled confidence, Adrien managed to casually brush her hand when they were riding the Pirates' ride, which also happened when they went to the Haunted Mansion and Aladdin's ride.
By the time they were on the queue to Splash Mountain, he finally managed to hold her hand. To their benefit, Nino and Alya acted as if they didn't notice. But boy, did they. Their flushing face was tell-tale.
"I am going to die," Marinette said, eyes popping wide, as she saw the ride's steepest fall.
Adrien squeezed her hand and smiled. "Well, you survived transatlantic turbulence. Chances are you'll survive this-."
A loud boom overpowered Adrien's voice, the music, and the background noise. People looked around confused, trying to make out where the sound came from. They did not have to wait for long, as smoke started coming out of the insides of the ride next to theirs, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
The people in the queue line ran in different directions, rapidly falling into a state of panic. Adrien looked at Marinette, who was still contemplating the scene with sheer shock.
"Oh no! If only Ladybug was here!" Alya said, with evident worry in her voice and producing her cellphone from her bag to record the event. "Marinette, where the heck are you going? Stay here!"
She seemed frustrated Alya caught her trying to sneak away, which further evidenced his theory, but this was not a moment to be thinking about crushes. People were in danger.
Nino pulled everyone to the side at the sight of a second explosion. Adrien heard from someone running away that there were people stuck inside, in one of the carts.
Marinette cursed herself for not being stealthier. If she disappeared now and Ladybug all of a sudden came into action, Alya would be more than able to connect the dots.
After all, how many French people could be possibly visiting the same park, the same area, at the same time, to conveniently waltz into the scene?
"We need to move," Adrien said, with a rather authoritative tone was not a lot like him. From afar, he saw a kid crying, standing in the way of a cart that was luckily empty. It didn't take Adrien a lot of brain to figure out what would happen next.
"Watch out!" he screamed, and darted to tackle the boy out of the way just in time to evade the derailing train, which landed precipitously on the lake in front of the attraction.
"Adrien!" Marinette exclaimed, and he would have returned, if it weren't for the fact the boy told him his mom and his older brother were inside one of the tunnels.
He nodded. "Don't worry, they're going to be fine. Stay here."
Adrien rushed into the ride and found a good isolated corner to let Plagg out of his jacket's pocket.
"Mouse ears, really?"
"Not the time, Plagg. Claws out!"
It seemed the locomotive of the ride was what caused the explosions, and the fire that now slowly crept into the veins of the ride. Chat coughed, glad his mask protected his eyes from the smoke that filled his lungs. He knew he only had minutes before it was too much to bear, before the fire caught up.
"Is anyone here?" he shouted. "I'm here to help!"
He navigated the rails until he found where the train got stuck. In accordance with his bad luck, it had gotten caught in the last tunnel, before the steepest fall.
"Help us!"
"The restrains won't come off!"
Adrien felt compassion for them, and was glad he found them soon. "Calm down, everything is going to be-."
Boom! And then the train moved a little. He gasped. It was coming back online, the explosion shook it enough to shift it back into the rail and it'd be only seconds before the weight collapsed onto it and… Yeah, he had seconds.
"Cataclysm!" He touched the main system of the restraints, which magically disintegrated as he touched them.
"Shh, shh, don't cry," he consoled a boy around eleven. "We're going to play pretend, okay? We'll pretend we're mountain cats! Mountain cats are brave and they can climb anything, just like us!"
He kept on mumbling stupid facts he remembered about cats and climbing and even threw a pun or two, to try and calm the kids down. When both adults and children were safely out of the train, he spoke, "Everybody follow me, we haven't got-!" The train false-started again. "Quick!" He piggybacked the smallest kid and carried two others. "You ready, chatons?"
They nodded. As they hurried to find a good angle to climb down, Adrien kept rambling. "Boy, we have a rocky situation here! Down you go, that's it, one foot, the other. Good kitty!" He turned to one of the adults. "Make sure they all come down safely. I'll stay back in case the train derails. The man could do nothing but nod.
Just as the last civilian climbed down and Chat was getting ready, the train finally clicked back into the rail and regained its speed.
"No! He leapt back into the track with feline agility and expanded his pole to deflect the course of the train, successfully smashing it against part of the prop rocks but also managing to get himself ricocheted into the water.
"Is that-" Alya pointed at the mystery hero that was helping people climb down the ride. "Chat Noir?"
Marinette gasped. Yes, yes that was Chat Noir. She'd recognize him anywhere. The fact that she could not transform into Ladybug was more frustrating now, she couldn't watch him risk his life like that by himself. Never mind that civilian Chat was in the same area as her- that they picked the exact same continent, the exact same country, the exact same resort, and the exact same attraction at the same time, for vacation. All she could focus on was that train that menaced to start at any given time.
"Hurry up, Chat," she muttered.
Then things happened so fast. She watched as the train started, Chat somehow smashing it against the prop structure, and his body immediately being flung across the air, right into the lake.
She could not run fast enough.
"CHAT NOIR!" she screamed.
Alya and Nino followed close behind, scared both for the superhero and their missing friend's whereabouts. Marinette did not think twice about plunging into the water to fetch his unconscious body from the water.
He coughed, for a moment unsure why Marinette was so upset -were those tears? Yes, they were.
"Princess?" He reached for her face and that's when he noticed the last blinking paw pad, warning him of his imminent transformation. He sat up with a gasp, and flinched at the pain on his back.
"No, don't move, you stupid cat!" she said, between sobs. "You could have died!"
"You don't understand," he urged. "I'm about to transform, people can't see me here."
"I don't care, I'll keep it a secret!"
He widened his eyes, hesitant for a moment. He could, she wanted to… No. This wasn't the moment, not like this, not rushed. He waited four years. He could wait a little longer.
"Your friend Adrien," he pressed.
Marinette gasped, tears suddenly flooding her eyes again.
"Let me go find him."
"But-."
"Mari, please."
Mari. She was too awestruck to react, allowing for Chat to dart back into the smoky shadows of the ride's base and detransform just in time.
He cursed, realizing the pain of the fall was still there and his clothes were damp. Of course, no Miraculous Cure, no new back, no dry clothes.
By the time he transformed back, the firefighters and paramedics were already handling the situation. A park representative was asking questions about who got them out of the ride, who prevented the catastrophe.
He overheard, "One of the cast members. A cat guy. Was this a publicity stunt? Because it was really distasteful. You bet your pants I'm going to sue!"
"Really," he muttered to himself. "I save them and they confuse me with a Disney character." He rushed to the water again, to make it look like he was just crawling out of that particular area -and so that Marinette wouldn't suspect about the damp clothes. They found him and rushed to help. Nino and Alya, mostly. Marinette simply looked at him as if she had seen a ghost. She was drained of color, her face was splotchy, and if she tried to open her eyes wider they would probably pop out. He evaded her gaze, knowing there was more than surprise in her expression. He didn't know how, but he knew he slipped more than he should have. So much for the perfect identity reveal.
"Dude, what the fuck! Help me understand your thought process, man. That's about the stupidest thing you've ever done, Adrien! What even!" Nino scolded him.
"Sorry…" he said meekly.
"You could have died!" Alya pressed. "I mean… Adrien, what… I just… If Chat Noir hadn't been there."
"Chat Noir was here?" he asked surprised. "I… I didn't see. Is that how everyone…"
"He showed up right after the first train derailed," Alya said, looking suspiciously at him. "Right after you…"
"Tripped," Adrien explained. "And hit my head. Just woke up."
He looked at Marinette, who now had this mix between anger, fear, and sadness.
"You're not scolding me?" he asked, feeling so much shame it was comparable to his physical pain.
She kept quiet.
Mari, Chat Noir called her Mari. Chat never talked to her so much that he called her by her shortened nickname. Only Adrien did. Ugh, this was so stupid of her! There had been a terrible accident, Chat almost lost his life, Adrien, too, and all she could think about his the possibility of Chat being Adrien! What an idiot.
"If you don't want to talk to me that's fine but- oomph!"
She tackled him into a hug, and hated herself for not being able to withhold the sobbing.
"You're an idiot, Adrien Agreste!"
"The biggest," he said, holding her as tight as his weak arms could allow. "I'm sorry," he said, nuzzling her neck. "But that boy…"
"I know! Don't, just… Don't you ever do that again!"
Adrien couldn't help but feel she was scolding Chat Noir, more than him. But then again, it could be his imagination. Or the exhaustion. Or the fact that his knees were buckling under his own weight and that he suddenly felt really sleepy.
Or the fact that suddenly, everything went black.
a/n: Sorry not sorry I keep ending these on cliffhangers.
Also, the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad derailment was a real thing that happened in Disneyland in 2003. Whatever you do, do not google accidents in WDW/Disneyland. They will inevitably lead you to creepypastas. Trust me on this one.
Also, I'll have you guys know, thanks to the fic my cookies now think I'm planning a trip to Orlando, so all the adds I see are Disney related and I may or may not be developing a slow burning craving.
Oh, real quick announcement! I will be out of town for two weeks because #fucking adulthood so I have a work trip and I won't be having internet or free time to work on the next chapter, so this one might delay even a bit more. But bear with me, I'm still here. I'll try to hurry and post the next one during the weekend but I can't promise anything.
Also, all aboard the fluff train, next stop cavityland! That being said, until next chapter, mes chatons. 3