Chapter Text
'Fine, I'll try!' Plagg's answer echoed in her tiny brain.
But it wasn't enough for Tikki. After 10 minutes of not receiving any news she started overthinking, habit stolen from her charge. 'What if Adrien doesn't listen to him? I have to help Marinette.' so she quickly floated next to her holder, that was now curled in her bed, staring at a picture with her and Adrien. "This has to end Marinette!" she said without thinking. 'Ok maybe it was a bad way to start...'
"Let me be Tikki..." the bluenette's voice was almost inaudible and a bit hoarse from all the crying.
"No Mari! I'm done letting you suffer! I'm sorry, ok?! I ruined everything. I destroyed all this. But now you can create something better! Something that isn't built on lies and secrets. You're better than this!" she said while positioning herself in front of her charge. "I know you feel like you failed. But you've failed many times in the past and you still managed to get up and make things better! You can still fix this!"
"There's no need..." Marinette replied while another wave of fresh tears appeared in her eyes. "I've spent all my time building a new life for Adrien, in the past months. He lost his mother, now his father, and he was left lonely and sad. I tried my best to make him happy...To show him that life doesn't stop there. Yes, I've built everything on lies, but I tried to keep it all together, without letting him get hurt. And guess what?" she laughed dryly "It's gone! I'm the one who hurt him! I've made the decisions myself when he deserved to know the truth. I've been selfish..." the tears started falling and she got up to hug her legs, placing her chin on top of them. "I took it all upon myself as if it was my decision to make, my secrets to keep. But it was his life, his family. And I didn't even tell him all the truth yet. He still doesn't know that he's a sentimoster, or that Nathalie was Mayura."
"He...found out already..." Tikki told her softly, she didn't know the right way to break the news.
"HE DID?! When?!" Marinette looked at her kwami alarmed.
"On Sunday..."
"But...It makes no sense! I've seen him at school...He looks like he's doing...ok?" the bluenette was shocked 'I thought all of this would phase him even more. But it seems he's doing better now. Maybe I was the problem...'
"No Mari, he's not. But he doesn't want to deal with his feelings, so he's suppressing them... You're both just two teenagers, you should stop trying to act like adults! He should just confront the truth and speak with you, to accept the reality, instead of ignoring it, and you should stop acting like it's the end of the world just because you failed, it wasn't on you to be the savior of everyone!" Tikki scolded her. 'I just want you two to live your life like two teenagers in love...not like two adults in shackles.'
"It was Tikki! It was! I am the guardian. I should've taken that damn brooch back a long time ago! And guess what? I failed. I even lost the miraculouses back then. I did the worst mistakes one could ever make. But I still tried to act like I'm really a hero. Like I can protect him and shield him, and I failed in doing that too!" even more tears were now cascading down her face "I don't deserve him...I hurt him so much...Not only as his girlfriend, but as a superhero too. I treated him like a sidekick when we should've been partners. I've been asking for help from everyone but him lately, except for the patrols. I failed him in every way possible. As his partner, as his hero and as his girlfriend. He would be happier without me." she said while hiding her face in her hands.
"You're taking decisions for me again?" a voice asked from the cracked trapdoor. "I think I should be the one judging that."
Marinette stared in horror at the cat superhero that was now climbing down into her bed. 'What do I do?! He shouldn't be here!'
"And no, you didn't fail me completely. Yes, you did as a partner, and maybe as a hero, but I can understand some of that protection bullshit you keep telling me about. But never as my girlfriend." Chat Noir spoke as he finally got the courage to look into her eyes at the last part. "You tried your best to keep me happy, even though it was destroying you. And I was too stuck in my reality to see that you've lost your smile lately, or that you were burdened by something." he wiped her tears with one hand while holding her chin with the other "I'm not perfect either, so...maybe we can be broken together." he detransformed before smiling sadly waiting for a reply.
~with the kwamis~
"Psst Tikki, let's give them some space." Plagg whispered before dragging his soulmate away.
"But what if they need us? What if she needs me?" the red kwami panicked.
"You did enough Tik', you got the right words out of her at the perfect time, the rest is on them, we did our job." the destruction god looked back at the two with a hopeful expression "Hopefully it will all turn out alright. But before we can check on them, I think we have a few things to talk about too!" he crossed his arms, looking at his other half disappointed.
~with Marinette and Adrien~
"I-I...Y-you" Marinette's voice broke down as another wave of tears flooded her eyes "I'm s-sorry! I'm so so sorry! I should've handled things d-differently, maybe tell you the t-truth or something. I shouldn't have treated y-you that way as a partner! I did e-everything wrong and you have every right to h-hate me, but p-please don't!" she stumbled with her words as she was scared. Her brain couldn't process what he said yet, as it was stuck on the fact that he, the person who she failed completely, was right now in front of her. And the thought that he may leave any time, before she even get's to say her apologies was predominant in her head, making his words intelligible.
Adrien's heart sunk even more at the sight of the broken girl, so he hugged her as he started to cry too. "I'm sorry too. I should've given you the right to explain, but I chose to run away and ignore the situation at hand. I cried for a bit and then I acted like nothing happened. I'm sorry! I could never hate you, now I know why you did what you did and I g-get it." his voice was also starting to break "You gave me the t-time and chance to mourn my f-father as I thought he was, the good man that was suffering after the death of my mother. If I found out then, that he was the one I was fighting against all that time...I might've broken down." he pause for a bit "But still, you should've told me yourself after I got over it." his hug tightened as he felt her hugging him back, finally grasping the situation.
"I wanted to! B-but I promised him I w-wouldn't. And you were so happy and everything was better. I was scared! I didn't want to hurt you!"
"I had the right to know. And the truth came out either way, almost ruining what we have..." he broke the hug to look her in the eyes "I don't want to lose you Marinette! You and Nathalie are the only ones I have left so please, please, stop hiding things from me and let's work as a team...as partners. Us against the world."
Looking into his eyes, Marinette gained a bit of courage, she felt like she really had a chance to fix this. "Us against the world." she smiled sadly. She knows she isn't forgiven yet, but she'd take any chance she has to make things right with him.
Adrien wiped her tears again before speaking "So let's start now. Tell me everything, right from the beginning. And don't lie to me again!"
"I promise I won't! It's gonna be a long story though, I hope you are prepared." she smiled as she wiped his tears.
~with the kwamis~
"I'm deeply disappointed in you, Tikki! You broke a promise, you destroyed everything and I had to fix all this. You didn't just ruin our team, you broke our guardian!" the usually playful and cheeky god, was now adopting a serious tone, trying to fix his relationship.
"I'm sorry! I know. I created a mess. But that wasn't what I intended!" she tried defending herself, but the glare her soulmate threw her made her choke on her words. "You're right, I behaved immaturely and almost caused a catastrophe. Thankfully, you acted more mature and" she looked at the two hugging holders "everything has a chance to be fixed." she looked back into his eyes before continuing "I know you're disappointed...I'm sorry..."
"Look Tik', a sorry isn't going to cut it. First I need your kwami vow that you won't ever block out communication link again! Second I need you to trust me more, so you can listen to me when I say you shouldn't do something! And third, I need some cheese!" he ended it in a playful tone. 'Being all serious and responsible it's annoying. I prefer when she's the one doing these serious talks'
"I vow on my miraculous earrings that I will never again block our communication link. I learned my lesson and the next time I will listen to~"
"Hopefully there will no longer be a next time!" Plagg jumped in.
"Yes, hopefully. But you know as well as me, as long as creation and destruction both exist in this world, there will forever be good and evil. So we can never be sure...And third, I'm going for that stinky cheese right now!"
Plagg smiled sensing his soulmate finally happy after these dreadful days. He removed the mental shield that was blocking his feelings, before he took a look at the couple, hearing Marinette laugh as Adrien looked annoyed.
~with the couple~
"So all that time you refused me, for me? You gave up on the playful and protective feline for the restrained model?" he was shocked by Marinette's point of view in all of this.
"I saw a lovely boy that was hurt and scared, but prepared to be hurt by trying to do good. The feline came in a day too late, if it appeared earlier than you, maybe I would've fallen for the 'protector of Paris'!" she said laughing at the end.
"Hey! Don't laugh at me! I do my best in every mission, I fully deserve that title!" the blond tried to defend his pride.
"I'm not laughing at that mon Chaton, it's just funny to think about this love square that turned out to be a straight line." she caressed his hair before her smile died down "Now it's the time...for the final battle...do you think you can take it?"
"I deserve to know, Marinette." he answered looking straight into her eyes. The time for jokes was over.
As Marinette told him the story in full detail, Adrien went through a ton of different emotions. Horror, pride, shock, sadness, anger, and in the end, after she recounted the meeting between them in London, he broke down. "After the reaction I had when I found out he died, of course you were scared to tell me the truth. But I never could've expected that! I never expected him to use such methods for maman! She would've been against it and he knew it!"
The bluenette hugged him tightly as she caressed his hair. "You didn't know Adrien. You had no way of knowing. You didn't even know if she was alive anymore. So of course you didn't expect him to do that. But it's done, there's no need to beat yourself up over it."
"I know that it's done, I know that! But I'm angry at myself that I didn't notice, and at him. How could he do that! And he had the chance! He had the chance to go back in time and save her, and he still chose to fight us!" the blond was crying more and more as he finally came to terms with the situation. He was letting himself feel, instead of suppressing all of it.
"He wasn't your father anymore Adrien, nor your mother's husband. He turned into a madman from the abuse of power." she broke the hug to look him in the eyes. This time the roles were reversed, she was the one trying to make him feel better "But he regained his consciousness in the end and he chose to at least give you someone to protect you. You have Nathalie. And you have me! We're your family Adrien, and we will never do the same mistakes that he did! And I will never hide things from you again."
He slowly wiped his tears, caressing his own face "You know...Maman made me this exact boy because she loved me, and she wanted me to feel it and see it every time I look in the mirror."
"And she did an amazing job! You're amazing, both handsome and a gentleman, what more could anyone ask for?" she smiled while playfully ruffling his hair.
"The truth!" he tried to look serious for a second but he started laughing.
"Oh god...You're gonna keep it up with reminding me about this every time you can before you forget, won't you?" the blunette asked in a frustrated tone but she was actually happy 'At least that means he forgives me!'
"You know damn right I am! Now that the truth is out of the bag, this cat has to play with it. Cats can be quite persistent, you know?" he put on his cheshire grin.
"Oh no! You're both Adrien and Cat Noir! I'll have to live with your awful puns everyday now!" face palm.
"Can't this purrincess survive the journey of laughter alongside her knight in shiny leather?" Adrien said bending down to his the back of her hand.
"Well if it's coming from both my purrtener and boyfriend I guess I have to start playing along, don't I?" she said smiling.
The blond placed an arm over his chest as he gasped. "You punned?! Oh my god, I can't believe it!" he fell down on his back, acting like he fainted out of shock, accidentally dragging her along.
With her face so close to him, and the situation finally over, there was only one thing left to do to fully patch things up. He kissed her. A sincere kiss full of love and promises. A promise from her to him, that she will try her best to make things right, and a promise from him to her, that he will always be there for her, never leaving her alone again.
~with the kwamis~
Plagg burped, as he finished all the cheese his sugarcube gave him.
"Come on Plagg, why do you have to be so gross, I was enjoying their sweet moment!" Tikki scolded him.
"Come on sugarcube, you know that they will have a lot of cheesy moments from now on. There are no secrets left between them and all the time in the world. You'll get sick of all this sweetness soon." he replied while gently patting his belly.
"I hope you're right stinky sock! I hope you're right..." she was still afraid, but with them two together, fully acting as partners, surely they would overcome everything. And that though put a smile on her face.