After all these chapter's I realized I never wrote one about the titular duo!
We gonna focus on the ship that makes me scream into my pillow for a chapter!
Marinette and Adrien, Ladybug and Cat Noir, Marinette and Cat Noir, Ladybug and Adrien, a girl with a helmet and guy disguising himself as a banana. It was all one big love square. In this timeline, where logic and common sense rarely come together and a billboard leads to the heroes discovering all of their identities, there stands one question left unanswered…
What is Mr. Banana hiding from us?!
… ok maybe two questions. The other one being why aren't Marinette and Adrien already dating in this AU now that the identity reveal happened?
The answer… Adrien has been trying…
ATTEMPT NUMBER 1
With the ragtag group of teenage superheroes officially having chosen a team name (Miracusquad!) The rest of the meeting went smoothly. Everyone was heading out, careful to not make any noise less Adrien's poor excuse for a father to hear them (unaware he was deciding his own supervillain team name). With almost everyone gone, all that remained was the original Miraculous duo.
"So…" Adrien kept his eyes away from Marinette, shyly staring around his room. With all that happened in the last 24 hours, he and his partner had yet to discuss themselves.
Dealing with all the chaos, Marinette had nearly forgotten about the unspoken awkwardness between her and her kitty. "Yeah…" For awkward freak outs, Marinette was handling this surprisingly well. She'd gotten the running in panic-y circles part of her freak out over last night at 3 in the morning. "We should talk about…" Marinette gestured between the two of them.
Sitting on the couch, Adrien took the first step. "You know, it's nice to know my partner in crime-fighting is a really good friend of mine." His cheeks turned the color of her superhero uniform.
"Y-yes! Good friends! That's what we are! Totally good-just-friends!" Marinette sweated nervously. Ok, maybe she still had some freaking out left to do. She was still processing that the boy she has been in love with for months was the same boy who has been flirting with her… with puns! Bad puns!
Adrien still had no clue that he was his own love rival… for both girls he was torn between! The layers of dramatic irony were so ironic that someone could write a cartoon based on it. "Yup!" Nope. There was no way he could even attempt to act cool. He had fallen in love with the same girl twice, but to his knowledge, she liked someone else. Should he just go for it? Should he ask her out for real in his civilian persona?
It was nerve-wracking for both of them, but their kwamis sat side by side on Adrien's bed. "Wish we had some popcorn for this," Plagg whispered to Tikki, who was watching with anticipation. There was no better soap opera than the lives of teenagers.
The cat hero swallowed a lump and prepared to take a leap of faith. "You know, nothing has changed now that I know who you are. It just makes me like you more now that I see the connection between both sides of you."
The bluenette blushed. "You like me…?" she asked hopefully. Praying that he meant it romantically and not as just a friend.
Adrien shyly scratched the back of his head, his eyes shimmered with a gentle love. "Marinette, will-"
BOOM! SMASH! LOUD NOISES!
Whatever mood they had was halted by the loud noises coming from who-knows-where in the Agreste manor. "What was that?!" Marinette jumped.
There was no way for them to know that noise came from Gabriel flipping a table over inside his evil lair. His own villain-team naming meeting was falling apart at the discourse.
ATTEMPT NUMBER 2
"Pound it!"
Once again, the day was saved, thanks to Ladybug and Cat Noir… and Carapace. The trio had taken down Gigantitan, who had been akumatized over being upset that he threw his stuffed cat into a fountain and it got wet. He was a baby! How was he supposed to know yeeting stuff into water made it wet?!
"C'mere lil' dude-" the turtle boy picked up the baby. "I'll take this baby back to his mom. You guys head back without me."
Ladybug took him up on his offer. "Thanks Carapace. See you tomorrow at school!" she Yo-Yo'd up onto a rooftop nearby.
Carapace leaned over to his cat bro. "You got this dude." Before the battle, Nino and Adrien conspired to get the latter alone with the girl that he secretly loved… although it wasn't really a secret. More of an open secret, like how they all knew Lila was wearing a wig.
Cat Noir grinned at his wingman, "You're the best, dude!" he waved goodbye as he pole-vaulted away on his baton.
Carapace felt a sense of pride for his homie, and for himself. He was awesome at setting his best bud up to confess his feelings! He held that baby like a champ! Nothing could ruin this for him!
… except for the baby vomiting all over his suit.
"OH DUDE! GROSS-WHY?!" The hero's outburst caused August to start crying.
"Wait up Milady!" The spotted heroine was about to change back on the safety of an abandoned rooftop when her feline companion caught up to her.
"Spots off!" Ladybug transformed back into Marinette. She handed Tikki a macaron before addressing her partner. "What's up Kitty? Need another fist bump?"
"Claws in!" The superhero turned back into a supermodel. Kwami, it still was weird getting used to detransforming in front of each other. "No, not that today. I wanted to talk to you about something… and maybe ask you something as well."
Marinette's bluebell eyes widened and sparkled. Adrien felt himself getting lost in her gaze and inwardly reminded himself that he needed to focus. "O-oh, sure Adrien! Anything for you-uh… pal!" Marinette cringed at her response. She hardly ever stuttered in front of him anymore, not unless she started thinking about the romance that she dared believe bloomed between them.
Adrien cleared his throat, rehearsing the confession he'd written in his room at 3:34 in the morning. It was absolutely an improvement over the confession drafted an hour before then. "Marinette, we've been superhero partners for a while now… and I was thinking that maybe we-"
"WAAAAAAAAH!" A deafening baby cry forced the duo to shut their ears.
Turning to face where they had just come from, Gigantitan was once again akumatized and stomping around the block. His tears flooded the streets as he waddled/ran through the city. A green-colored hero chased after the giant baby in a panic. "I AM SO SORRY I DID NOT HAVE THIS UNDER CONTROL!"
Adrien and Marinette smacked their foreheads in unison.
ATTEMPT NUMBER 3
Aboard the Liberty, the Miracusquad was gathered to hear the latest song by Kitty Section. That was the cover story, anyway. Unbeknownst to Marinette, this was a setup headed by Adrien to properly confess his feelings and ask her out on a date.
Even the tiny kwami's were in on the scheme. They all sat over the stage and were prepared to help with the special effects. Except for Fluff, who seemed distracted. "Pay attention Fluff!" Stompp chastised her. "We can't miss our cue!"
"Not to worry, I've seen this happen before. Of course we weren't here and Longg's holder was being bamboozled." Fluff tried to assure her fellow kwami, though the concern they held for the rabbit's sanity grew.
The lights dimmed as the show began. To Marinette's surprise, Adrien took the microphone and center stage. "Tonight, we have a special song to play. One I wrote for a very special girl." He tenderly smiled at his co-guardian.
Kim leaned over to whisper in Marinette's ear, "He's talking about you." He leaned back away, clutching his dolphin tightly.
A beautiful love song graced everyone's ears. You've all seen it already, it's the one from 'Perfection', it plays out pretty much the same except for the kwami's adding additional special effects. No need to copy and paste the lyrics, you can just listen to it yourself.
Adrien's song was drawing to a close. He poured his love into the remaining lyrics "Because my heart beats the same as yours. The melody that simply says I-"
A deafening boom interrupted the song. To everyone's shock, a cannonball rocketed overhead and just barely missed the boat. "Huh, that's new." Fluff commented.
Juleka and Luka exchanged horrified looks. "It's not the fifteenth already, is it?!" the sister muttered in a panic.
The Couffaine brother checked his phone and found an unread note from their mother. "No! There was a scheduling error, and it got bumped up this month!"
Another cannonball crashed close to the Liberty, rocking the boat and knocking the rockers over. "What is happening?!" Rose cried in alarm.
The captain of the liberty ran on deck, decked out in more pirate attire than usual. "Avast ye, young crew! We be under attack!" Anarka pointed a very real sword out towards the Seine, where another pirate-like ship was approaching.
"Surrender Captain Couffaine! The tide has turned in our favor!" some other guy dressed like a pirate shouted through a megaphone on the other ship.
Anarka brought out her own megaphone. "This ain't over till ye be drowning in Davy Jones' locker, Captain Croquer!"
Every other hero turned to the Couffaine siblings for context, the brother of the two quickly summed it up before the next cannon fire "Our mom's monthly roleplay group."
ATTEMPT NUMBER 4
Cat Noir was only moderately fazed by her outburst. Ever since finding out who was beneath the mask, he started to see the parts of both her identities that came out with or without the mask. He fell head over heels for her all over again. "It won't come to that. We've already sent out the signal for everyone to be transformed and on patrol, and we are going to prove our team is more than capable of stopping Hawkmoth."
Brushing his hand over her shoulder, the heroes shared a soft stare. The twinkle of her blue eyes captivated the kitty and reminded him of something he had been meaning to do ever since the reveal. "And maybe once this whole visit is over, you and me can-"
"Ladybug. Cat Noir." an intimidating voice interrupted the date proposal. The way Cat's ears and face drooped, it was clear this wasn't the first time this had happened.
… hey, we already saw this in chapter 10!
ATTEMPT NUMBER 5
The Eiffel Tower, such a romantic spot when it wasn't collateral damage in an akuma battle. Thankfully, there was no battle today (as Gabriel was currently preoccupied with a severe case of diarrhea courtesy of eating his own pancakes) so it was immersed in a peaceful atmosphere.
Marinette and Adrien had finished patrol for the afternoon and undid their transformations when they reached an unoccupied area of the tower. "Sweet, we got this whole part to ourselves today!" Adrien stretched his arms out and sat down on a bench. Plagg flew back inside his jacket and returned a moment later with his cheese, which Adrien had forced him to wrap in a smell-proof wrapping.
The bluenette heroine stepped around an unfinished floor, sure to give away if enough weight was put on it. "Probably because this section is in the middle of construction." Marinette took a seat beside her partner. Besides her pouch with Tikki, Marinette had a small backpack with her today as well. "But while the builders are gone for the day, it makes the perfect place to rest without anyone interrupting."
Adrien noticed the extra bag when Marinette pulled it in front of her and started digging around inside it. "What'cha got there?"
"You were complaining about the snacks being removed from your photoshoots, so I took the liberty of baking up what you'd been missing." Marinette lightly blushed as she brought out an assortment of baked goodies, six different items individually wrapped and ready to be eaten.
Adrien's eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. "You're my hero." he whispered in awe.
"AND MINE!" Plagg hugged the heroine's face. "I see a cheese filled danish meant just for me!"
His holder rolled his eyes. "Now Plagg, don't assume-"
"It's for Plagg." Marinette confirmed. "Tikki mentioned he'd been drooling over some cheese breads when you stopped in the bakery last weekend." He did actually drool on the counter. Her parents had no idea how it had gotten there.
The cat kwami took a bite out of the pastry. "Can we move in with you?!"
The ladybug kwami flew over and pulled the ear of her more destructive counterpart. "One step at a time, Cheese-breath."
Adrien chose a chocolate croissant and bit into it, loving the sweet and crunchy taste. "I think I like this better than any other croissant I've ever eaten." He complimented the chef, being completely truthful.
"Oh, come on, it's just like any other croissant from my family's store." Marinette brushed it off as no big deal. On the inside she was squeeing and fangirling that her crush loved her baking. It wasn't just like any other croissant, anyway. She added a secret ingredient; love… Metaphorically speaking. The actual baking process went exactly the same as always.
Finishing the delectable delicacy, Adrien realized the kind of atmosphere they were in. A private picnic on the Eiffel Tower, heartfelt snacks and heartfelt gratitude, Tikki dragging Plagg away to give the two of them a little more privacy. It was the perfect opportunity to confess his feelings and ask her out!
"You know, Marinette…" Adrien stood up and suavely held out his hand for his lady. "I've been wanting to talk to you about something important for a while now…"
Marinette grinned hopefully with a bright blush on her face, nodding at him to go on.
Adrien made a move to lean down onto one knee "Marinette I-" the unfinished floor gave in, and Adrien fell through below with a cat-like yelp. The bluenette kneeled over carefully to look down below, finding him bruised but unharmed in a pile of rubble. "I've really fallen for you." His strained pun was quiet enough that only he could hear it.
ATTEMPT NUMBER 6
School, it could be a good place to ask someone out. Adrien was not one to let failure get him down, it only made him more determined to succeed in his goal. Today would be the best time to confess to Marinette if he did it in school since the two biggest obstacles were out, Chloe was taking a 'personal day' away from school and Lila had mysteriously fallen ill after eating the leftover food from the modeling shoot yesterday. They never did figure out who brought in those leftover pancakes?
What was Adrien's amazing master plan for asking out Marinette at school, you may ask? An old-fashioned love letter! It would be like the poem he wrote for Valentine's Day, only this time he actually intended for the recipient to read his scribbled words of romance. All he had to do was place it in her bag during class. Simple.
Until he remembered that he sat in FRONT of her desk. Being in the front row, there was no way to pass the note without being noticed. He couldn't ask his kwami to sneak it over either. The letter wouldn't phase through solid objects like they could. And after the incident with Ziggy and the thumbtack, they weren't willing to try hiding it in Plagg's mouth while he phased through something.
When lunch arrived, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for Adrien to slip her the note. He carefully slid it in her bag while they were talking. All that was left was for her to find it.
Then came the food fight.
No one knows who started the fight, but one stray spoonful of applesauce flying through the air heralded the greatest food war this school had ever seen. It was the only food war, so it won by default. Some tried to escape but found themselves hiding under the tables for shelter, their belongings abandoned as they fended for themselves.
Marinette had tripped over a meatball and her bag flipped up upward. A single note escaped and floated into the next nearest bag, which belonged to Mylene. The mouse heroine had bravely stood on a table and urged her fellow students to not waste food. If they wanted a food fight, they should use the empty containers instead.
And they did. The food was saved, but more boo-boos and ouchies were sustained from soda cans hitting eyes and cardboard causing paper cuts.
When all calmed down, Mylene discovered the love letter in her bag. The writing had been smudged in the war, so it was only just barely legible. Ivan was not happy that someone would give his girlfriend a love letter and tracked down the 'Brien' who had apparently sent it.
Turns out the school had recently hired a junior janitor named Brien. Words were exchanged and voices raised, accusatory fingers were pointed. A black butterfly landed on Brien's mop and the ox miraculous wielder retreated to transform.
Adrien waited on a bench by the Seine, the location where his letter told Marinette to meet him. He had evidently been waiting a while "... She never got the letter, did she?"
"Nope." his kwami figured the same. The tiny cat comforted his human's latest failure, while a large explosion went off in the background.
ATTEMPT NUMBER 7
Adrien was cursed. He had to be. It was the only way to explain why every single time he tried to ask out Marinette, the universe would conspire to interrupt and ruin everything. The only other explanation was that the universe thought of it as an amusing running gag.
He was mentally going through a list of suitable romantic scenarios, which he should have been doing in his room or at school instead of while he was on a mission. Granted, it wasn't a superhero mission. Alix roped a couple of the squad in to help with what she dubbed 'Revengeance: The Nutcracker', and somehow he ended up on stakeout duty in an empty apartment for the afternoon with Marc.
The Rooster hero watched the streets below through a pair of binoculars, while his blonde companion continued to mull over his failures. "I know that look. You're mulling over failure, aren't you?" Adrien heard Marc ask.
He guessed there was no harm in venting. "Every time I try to tell Marinette how I feel, something gets in the way! I can't even blame it on magic since Plagg swore on his stinky cheese that there were no Kwami-related powers involved." And it was the cheese he kept in the old sock! That's how serious Plagg had been.
"Hey, just keep trying. You'll get it out eventually," Marc sympathized.
"I guess." Adrien sighed, rolling his head back and letting it slide against the wall. "How about you? How'd you ask Nathaniel out?"
"Oh, I-" Marc stopped. He tried to remember how he'd asked Nathaniel out. But nothing was coming to mind. "I-did he ask me first?" Nope, he couldn't recall Nathaniel asking him out either. His eyes bugged out as he realized that somehow the two of them had gotten together, without ever asking the other out! "Oh, my Kwami-we got together without even noticing neither of us made the first move!"
Adrien blinked, surprised. "Wow. I never even knew that was possible."
The darker-haired boy placed his binoculars down and took out his phone with an amused grin. "I gotta go tell him! This is the sort of scenario that would be perfect for a story we're writing!" He was almost to the door when he remembered why the two of them were in here. "Wait, I'm supposed to-"
The cat hero shrugged. "It's cool. Go take a break and call him. I'll keep an eye on the target."
Marc nodded a thanks and stepped out to make a call. "Nath, you'll never believe what I just realized-" The door closed, leaving the rest of the conversation unheard.
It was just Adrien and Plagg in the room now. The former kept his eyes glued to the outside with the binoculars held to his face. The tiny god of destruction sat on his shoulder and petted his human on the cheek. "Listen to Rooster-boy, you'll spit it out eventually."
"It's just-I have the words already, but not the timing!" Adrien was frustrated with himself. "All I want is to be able to tell Marinette how I feel without some pirate ship or giant baby getting in the way!"
Plagg felt for his partner. Loving a person was harder than loving cheese. "How about some practice? Pretend you're talking to Marinette instead of me. What would you say?"
"What wouldn't I say?" a fond smile crept onto his lips. "There's so much that I can barely narrow it down." The kwami on his shoulder prodded him to go on, so he continued. "Her smile, her positivity. She always finds a way to make things work. She's kind and super talented, the strongest person I've ever met."
The door behind them opened, though only Plagg noticed and turned around. "Um-Adrien-"
"Come on, Plagg, I want to try to run through this without being interrupted for once." Adrien stubbornly kept going. "There's so many reasons why Marinette is amazing, her heart, her courage, those beautiful eyes that sparkle when the sun hits them. I can't just pick one thing I like about her. I love everything about her!"
"Kid, the door-"
"I know Plagg. Marc will be back in a minute." Adrien wouldn't listen to his kwami. "Let me finish. I want to make my confession perfect. I want Marinette to know that… that with or without the mask, I love her. I love every side of her. Whether she's saving Paris or stumbling over her words, I love everything about Marinette."
"Adrien?" a soft, feminine voice spoke up. The boy let the binoculars fall from his grasp as he froze in shock. There was no mistaking the voice that belonged to the girl that had stolen his heart. He whipped around so fast that he knocked his kwami off his shoulder.
Standing right in front of the door was Marinette Dupain-Cheng herself!
Adrien couldn't articulate any words. He briefly locked eyes with Plagg, whose expression read 'I tried to tell you and you wouldn't listen'. He leapt up off the floor and in a panicking state only got two words out "Why-how?" he gestured wildly like she would do.
Marinette stared at him with a loving, touched gaze. Tears almost spilling from her eyelids. "I-I came to see how you and Marc were doing. He was on the phone, so I let myself in. As for how much I heard… I'm guessing a lot." She figured her entrance was pretty early into his practice confession-turned accidental confession.
Locking eyes, Adrien could feel the love coming from her. And it was directed at him! "And… how do you feel? About me?" He was hopeful, though inside he was freaking out. What if she didn't actually like him like that? Their friends have been supportive of them and it gave him hope that he had a chance with her. But she'd rejected him as Cat Noir in the past, so there was still a doubt that-
"I-I-" Marinette stumbled, steadying her nerves. She forced her eyes shut and blurted her own feelings out before she could overthink it and change her mind. "I in louvre with-No, I mean I'm love-Gah! I love you Adrien!"
There it was. Both of their feelings had been said out loud. The two of them cracked matching awkward smiles and let out some laughter. Laughing over how wonderful and abrupt and amazing and sudden this moment was. The boy reached out and gently took her hand, his lopsided smile sending non-evil butterflies fluttering around her stomach. "Then, will you go out with me, Marinette?"
She eagerly nodded, only able to make a 'hmm-hm' noise in response with her face a blushing and tearfully joyful mess. They shakily took each other's hands and leaned their faces towards one another…
Their kwami's had flown over by the window to leave their holders alone. Plagg briefly looked out the window before doing a double take. "Holy us-THERE'S THE TARGET!" The tiny cat flew over to the walkie-talkie discarded in the corner. "Plagg here, the target is in position!"
"BEGIN THE REVEANGENING!" Alix's voice shouted from the other end of the device.
Jalil Kubdel approached his favorite peanut store, completely unaware that his little sister and her friends were hiding in the bushes with water balloons filled with walnut crumbs… and maybe like one or two that were accidentally filled with paint. The boy was bombarded with projectiles of his least-favorite nut (and some red paint) and angrily shook his fist into the sky. "ALIX!"
"THIS IS FOR LAST TUESDAY! RELEASE THE NEXT PHASE!" His sister shouted from the roof of the building where Adrien and Marc had been positioned.
The new couple couldn't help but pause as they watched the scheme go off, but it wasn't going to stop them from leaning in one more time and successfully kissing. Their sweet kiss went on uninterrupted, despite Marc running past and the windows turning brown as the next phase dropped from the sky.
Adrienette was now canon in this universe.