Chapter Text
The end of the day could not come fast enough. Adrien couldn’t subtly turn around in his seat to look at Marinette, but it was all he could think about doing. Alya kept passing Marinette notes, telling her to be confident and not freak out that she was alone in Adrien’s room with him. Marinette hadn’t been freaked out, but now she was. She would be alone in Adrien’s room with him. With him, in his room, alone. She psyched herself up, mentally prepared herself, then the thought would hit her again and her cheeks would flush at the thought. Dammit!
The last bell rang and the class packed up their things, Alya nudging Marinette and tilting her head towards Adrien briefly before leaving, throwing a quick; ‘Text me!’ Over her shoulder. Marinette waved, letting her know she had heard, and finished zipping up her bag.
Adrien stepped out from behind his desk and turned to his classmate with a smile. ‘Ready?’ He asked.
All Marinette could do was smile and nod, following him from the classroom and out to his waiting car. He asked her if she wanted to stay to do homework after they finished shopping, and she agreed, it would be nice to have someone to work with, and she knew Adrien knew his stuff when it came to physics.
He offered her a drink and snack when they arrived, turning on his computer while he grabbed their sodas, setting another chair beside his at the monitors and offering her a seat.
‘So, I think I remember where we found it.’ Adrien said as he opened the browser.
‘Found it?’ She asked, forgetting what they were looking for.
‘The lip balm.’ He reminded her with a smile.
‘Oh, right!’ She helped him spell out the brand so they were searching for the right thing. ‘This first site was the one with the expensive shipping costs, want to try a different one?’ She asked, leaning over to point at the screen, catching a glimpse of his shirt moving and a flash of black disappearing over his shoulder as she did. She frowned for a moment, then put it down to the late night she had had.
‘Let’s open that one in a separate tab so we know where we can definitely find it if we need to.’ He clicked his mouse and went to the next listing, rubbing the back of his head as he felt like something touched his hair.
‘You okay?’ She frowned at his obvious discomfort.
‘Yeah, it’s…nothing.’ He murmured, looking over his shoulder as though he expected to see something, and on the edge of his hearing he could hear a certain little destruction deity snickering.
‘If you’re sure.’ She replied, watching as he went to the next site.
They scrolled for a while, and Marinette reached for her soda, not really paying attention, but she turned when her hand grasped at nothing. She was sure her drink had been right there, but it was across the desk. Funny, she didn’t remember putting it there.
‘Okay?’ Adrien noticed her blind groping at nothing and frowned at her.
‘Forgot where I put my drink.’ She murmured, picking up the can and taking a sip, which was when Adrien saw Plagg dart behind a pile of books from where the can had been. He narrowed his eyes, but really couldn’t say anything without drawing his attention to the kwami.
‘This one looks good.’ Adrien said as they viewed the latest site. ‘They have money off and it’s less shipping to get here.’
‘Delivery time is a bit longer.’ Marinette said as she read over the terms. ‘But their express delivery is still cheaper than the first site.’ She pointed at the monitor, and it shut off. ‘I swear I just pointed at it.’ She said defensively.
Adrien hit the keyboard a few times but still nothing happened, and he stood, leaning behind his monitor, finding the power cable completely loose. ‘That’s weird.’ He said loudly, his voice irritated. ‘The power lead fell out.’
‘That is weird.’ Marinette agreed, starting to think maybe he had a gremlin, or a computer hating akuma victim in his room.
Adrien pushed the plug back in and looked around the back of his computer for the green glowing eyes he suspected were behind this prank. If he wasn’t careful, Plagg would out Adrien before he got the chance to speak to her about it.
‘Okay, I plagged it back in, I mean, plugged it back in.’ Adrien corrected himself. ‘I think I’ll order from this one.’ He added them to his basket and went through the checkout process.
Tikki pushed her way out of Marinette’s bag and checked the coast was clear, knowing something was going on, that her counterpart was causing trouble when he shouldn’t be, and she slipped out of the bag and beneath the desk where she could even now hear him giggling.
‘What are you doing?’ She whispered harshly, looking at his amused face.
‘I’m messing with them.’ He replied simply.
‘If you’re seen…’
‘Then they’re even.’ Plagg shrugged. ‘Big deal. Adrien already knows.’
‘He knows?!’ Tikki asked in horror. ‘You didn’t…’
‘Nah, not stupid enough to risk your wrath, spots.’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘He figured it out all on his own.’
‘How?’
‘He’s going to tell her.’ He nodded towards the legs of the teens at the desk.
‘He can’t do that!’ Tikki started towards them, but Plagg caught her and pulled her back.
‘He’s going to anyway. We may as well just sit back and enjoy the show.’
‘Plagg…’
‘Aw, you used to be fun.’ He pouted.
‘I’m still fun.’ Tikki argued.
‘Then just watch the fireworks with me.’
With a sigh, Tikki sat beside him, listening intently to the conversation above.
‘You want to do physics first?’ Adrien asked as he completed his transaction.
‘Okay, but I’m not great at it.’ She apologised as they went to their bags on the couch. ‘You’d probably be faster doing it without me.’
‘I’m actually really enjoying the company.’ He smiled, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, as her cheeks flushed pink.
‘Me too.’ She admitted, taking out her book and tablet.
‘Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.’ He said quickly, taking the book and tablet from her hand and putting them on the table.
‘Oh?’ Marinette asked, little more than a noise on her breath rather than an actual word.
‘Here, let’s sit.’ He sat on the couch and after a moment she sank down beside him.
‘Is something wrong?’ She asked as he ran his hand into his hair, obviously nervous about something.
‘Not wrong, no, but I don’t want you to freak out, so just, stay calm, okay?’
That sentence alone was almost enough to make her freak out, but instead she just nodded.
‘Okay, cool. So, Marinette, um…’ He glanced down and on a whim decided to take her hand.
Marinette’s eyes went wide at his actions, looking up at him in surprise as he struggled to find the words.
‘I just wanted you to know, and you don’t need to feel bad or anything about this,’ he rambled, ‘but…I know.’
‘You…know?’ She asked hesitantly.
He nodded. ‘I know.’
‘Okay. What do you know?’ Marinette frowned.
‘I know that, uh, that you’re,’ he leant in, ‘Ladybug.’
Marinette just stared at him. He knew. He actually knew the thing he shouldn’t know. What did she do? There was no manual on what to do if your secret identity was discovered, let alone it be by your crush. In the end she simply said. ‘Oh.’ Followed by; ‘How?’
‘It wasn’t your fault.’ He said quickly. ‘And it wasn’t my fault, it was an accident. I recognised your lip balm. I’d been wearing it all day and then went you went by me, I smelled it, and it’s just, it’s different, and pretty recognisable, and I’m sorry, I know you didn’t want me to find out, let alone like this.’
‘You…you smelled it?’ She said, not understanding when she had been near enough to Adrien as Ladybug for him to do so.
‘My, uh, my sense of smell is better, when I’m transformed.’
Marinette digested what he said, taking in his green eyes, what had been before her the entire time, literally under her nose, and she pressed her lips together as she tried to control her emotions, and failing miserably. She started to laugh, and laugh hard. She laughed until tears formed in her eyes and her stomach hurt from it, and she squeezed Adrien’s hand in hers, the touch helping her ground herself.
‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ She wiped at her eyes as she tried to compose herself, still chuckling as she came down from the ridiculousness of the situation. She looked at him, really looked, and tilted her head to one side, a small frown creasing her brow. ‘Kitty?’ She asked, as though needing it confirmed.
‘At your service, my lady.’ He raised her hand and kissed it, and she let him, her eyes softening.
‘I’ve been in love with my crime fighting partner this whole time.’ She whispered, and Adrien’s heart skipped a beat at her confession.
‘And I’ve been in love with my shy classmate.’
She shook her head. ‘Honestly, we’re pretty bad at this.’
He shrugged. ‘Sometimes you can’t see what’s right in front of you.’
‘Very true.’ She nudged him with her knee, feeling some of the confidence she felt as Ladybug seeping through, knowing Adrien knew both sides of her, and he deserved to see both. ‘So, kitty, do you still want to kiss me, now you know the girl behind the mask?’
He smiled broadly at her forwardness. ‘I’d actually really like to find out how that lip balm tastes secondhand.’
‘Busted by a lip balm.’ She shook her head before taking hold of the front of his shirt and pulling him towards her. ‘Let me know how it tastes, minou.’
Adrien couldn’t make sense of much as his lady kissed him, it pretty much beat anything he had ever experienced, but he was aware, somewhere in the back of his mind where he was still aware of what was going on around him, of two small voices cheering.