Chapter Text
Adrien never tired of feeling wind dance though his hair as he vaulted across Paris as Chat Noir. There was a confidence involved with every burst of air, an assuredness that he COULD be his own person and ensure his own freedom, at least for a little while.
He’d leapt over rooftops and soared high above the city more times than he could count. He loved it--how could he not??--but it was normal to him by now. He’d grown used to it.
...but Adrien would never grow used to soaring over Paris in the arms of his Lady.
Seeing the city from Ladybug’s perspective took Adrien’s breath away….which was a little embarrassing, considering he’d seen all these landmarks from above dozens, if not hundreds of times, AND typically accompanied by Ladybug herself.
But being gathered in her arms as she swung across the city? Untransformed and completely dependent on her for safety?
It was just an extension of the trust he felt for her as Chat…..and it was invigorating.
….especially considering he became more and more certain who lay beneath her mask with every leap she took.
Marinette was observant.
Perhaps a little too observant when it came to Adrien. (At least according to Alya, anyway).
But Alya didn’t notice the things Marinette did.
Such as the way Adrien had slowly been deflating over the past week.
She sensed it in the smiles that didn’t quite meet his eyes.
In the snippets of overheard phone calls in which Adrien looked pained and the person on the other line--presumably his father or Nathalie--sounded angry.
And in the way he looked just as sad as Alya--if not more so--when Nino didn’t show up for school for multiple days due to a bout with the flu.
By Friday, Marinette ached to ask Adrien what was wrong because she just KNEW something had to be wrong. So she did.
He didn’t say much. Just a hasty, “Oh, I’m alright! Just a bit tired, that’s all...I’ve had a busy week.”
Marinette didn’t believe him for a minute. She wanted to help him so badly, but wasn’t sure how…
And then she realized.
Perhaps it would be difficult to help him as Marinette…..but Ladybug would have an easier time at it.
After a half hour or so of exploring the city, Ladybug swung unto a nearby rooftop and gently set Adrien down before reeling in her yo-yo.
“This spot has a great view of the river,” she explained, sitting down and gesturing for Adrien to follow suit.
Adrien did just that, heart still racing from the exhilaration of the ride (and from the close proximity to his lady, of course).
“Would you like a macaron?” Ladybug asked, revealing a small paper bag tucked away beside a chimney. She retrieved a cookie from the bag and offered it to Adrien with a warm smile.
Adrien accepted the gift and took a bite. His breath caught as the familiar flavor dissolved over his tongue. “Is this passionfruit flavored?”
Ladybug nodded (perhaps a bit smugly).
“That’s my favorite!! How did you know?”
She shrugged with a coy grin. “A hero never reveals her secrets.”
...only one other person had ever offered Adrien a passionfruit macaron.
And she just so happened to be the same person who’d recently helped Adrien escape a rooftop similar to the one he and Ladybug were seated on now.
Marinette.
Adrien bit his lip, stealing a glance at his Lady—at....Marinette?—as she gazed at the stars and nibbled on a macaron.
He’d never spent this much time with her without a miraculous—unless, of course, she and Marinette were indeed the same person.
He was 90% sure of her identity this point…the passionfruit macarons she’d brought him only contributed more puzzle pieces to the final image that had been growing in his mind ever since she’d reached out to him earlier in the night....but the remaining 10% insisted it couldn’t be true, that it would be too good to be true, that Ladybug would be ANGRY with him if it were true so he might as well try to forget about the possibility and move on with his life.
Still, if his Lady really WAS Marinette, he couldn’t just keep it a secret from her. He had to tell her the truth.
And if she wasn’t? If the uncanny similarities between the two of them that sent his heart racing were just coincidences?
No harm done then.
(There wasn’t a pang in Adrien’s chest at that thought. No way.)
"...so....do you want to talk about it?"
Adrien's pulse skyrocketed.
"What? Huh?? Talk about what??"
Did she know?
Did she know he knew??
Ladybug cocked her head at him, seemingly puzzled.
"About whatever's bothering you. We don't have to, if you don't want to. I just thought it might help."
Adrien let out a relieved sigh.
"Oh! That."
He supposed the "sorry I figured out your secret identity, but in my defense, it was only because you’re just so amazingly wonderful" conversation could wait a bit longer.
"Well, I mean....”
What harm was there in telling Ladybug...in telling Marinette...what was bothering him?
She was a superhero. She was probably as good at keeping secrets as he was.
"My father....well, I haven't really seen much of him this week....and I wonder if it's because he doesn't really want to see ME. I see Nathalie, my father's assistant, all the time...but this week she's just been acting like him. Cold. Only seeming to notice the things I do wrong.”
A dark scowl passed over Ladybug’s face.
"Don't get me wrong, I love my father!!" Adrien insisted as he caught a glimpse of the storm clouds brewing in Ladybug’s eyes.
"It's just....this week he's being less supportive than usual. Yeah, that's it. And then, one of my best friends has been absent from school for the past few days because he's sick. Usually I'm able to talk to him about this stuff and he makes it easier, but now I can't even visit him....and I don't want to text him about it, because what if my Father or Nathalie take my phone and find out?? They'd be so disappointed in me... And I already feel bad enough for telling Nino about some of my problems...I didn't want to burden any of my other friends with them..."
A wave of sadness and clarity rolled over Ladybug's shoulders at that final statement. No wonder Adrien hadn't gone into any specifics with her at school.
".....I probably shouldn't be telling you this…” Adrien muttered after a few seconds of contemplation, gazing down to the ground below. “You already have the weight of the world on your shoulders, you don't need my personal problems added to the mix...I’m sorry…..”
"Adrien.”
The sharpness in Ladybug’s tone snapped Adrien out of his lonesome stupor.
Ladybug placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.
“Listen to me....you are NOT a burden. And you are NOT in the wrong for wishing your father and Nathalie treated you differently.”
Adrien knew that. Deep down, somewhere, he knew it, even if it was hard to believe.
It still felt good to hear Ladybug say it though.
But she wasn’t done.
"...you are so loved, Adrien.
'You are loved in ways and to lengths you don't even realize, in ways you can’t even IMAGINE. I guess the main reason I brought you out here tonight was so I could tell you that."
".....how could you know that?" Adrien breathed softly.
"Oh...a bug has her ways...." Ladybug replied with a gentle smile. "And you trust me, don't you, Adrien? You know I’m telling the truth.”
That sealed the deal. It was official.
Ladybug was in fact Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
And suddenly, Adrien didn’t want to keep this knowledge to himself any longer.
“You know, I’ve also been having a bit of trouble with school,” Adrien said, trying to conceal a wobble in his voice. “You know that reading assignment Ms. Bustier assigned us to analyze this weekend? I just don’t understand it.”
“Wait, really?” Marinette asked, cocking an eyebrow. “I didn’t think it was too bad. Maybe I can help you with it before Monday.”
Adrien’s breath caught in his throat.
A wave of nausea struck Marinette as her brain caught up to her tongue. She slammed on her breaks...but the car ahead of her was already hit.
“.......uh. I mean……”
Oh no. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. This WASN’T REAL. Adrien could NOT know she was his classmate.
It was okay. She could fix this. Ladybug could fix this.
“I mean, I Alya told me all about the reading assignment earlier today!!!! We talk sometimes because of her Ladyblog, that’s all….”
She made the mistake of glancing at Adrien...and any remaining words fizzled out on her tongue...because he was gazing at her as if she’d hung all the stars in the sky.
There was a softness...an assuredness in his gaze unlike anything Marinette had ever known.
Adrien had never looked at her—with or without her mask—like this before.
Luka had never looked at her like this.
Even Chat Noir, with all his pining and devotion and declarations of love, had never looked at her like this..
Adrien’s eyes seemed to capture her entire being. He saw all of her...he looked like he’d spent a lifetime searching for his other half and had finally found it in her.
“....it’s you,” he whispered softly. Reverently.
“Marinette.”
The logical part of Marinette screamed for her to DENY and ESCAPE before it was too late.
……but the corner of her heart that had never quite given up on Adrien refused to settle for that.
“I….okay…I’m Marinette...” she breathed.
Adrien’s eyes shone. “I knew it.”
“But….but...but how did you know?” Marinette asked.
“Uh…” Adrien hesitated. He couldn’t really explain how he’d figured it out without compromising his own identity...and would Marinette want him to do that?
Fortunately, he was spared from facing this predicament for the time being because Marinette was talking again.
“I mean, I’ve barely been the guardian for a month! I thought I was being so CAREFUL, but somehow you figured it out and if YOU figured it out, what if someone ELSE figured it out?? Oh GOSH I am a HORRIBLE guardian and everyone probably knows my secret identity now and this is SO BAD--”
“Woah, slow down!!” Adrien interjected with a chuckle, taking Marinette’s hand in his own and giving it a gentle squeeze. “You are definitely NOT a horrible guardian. You’re the most amazing person ever!! You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise. And no one else knows! Don’t worry: your secret is safe with me.”
Marinette gazed at him, a blush glowing faintly on her cheeks and the hint of a smile gracing her face.
Perhaps Adrien knowing her identity wouldn’t be so bad. She WAS the guardian now, after all, and had more responsibilities than ever. He could help keep her secret, maybe even help her come up with excuses if she needed to leave school more often.
…but Chat Noir would be disappointed when she told him Adrien Agreste had figured out her identity before he learned it for himself.
Wait.
Chat Noir.
Suddenly, Marinette remembered icy blue eyes bearing the grief of a hundred restless, lonely nights boring into her.
Oh no.
Oh NO.
“Oh no, no, NO, Adrien, you CAN’T know who I am, this is so bad, this is so bad, the last time this happened….oh gosh, oh no--”
Adrien’s face blanched as Ladybug--Marinette--his lady began to shake.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! Please don’t cry, it’ll be okay, I won’t tell anyone, I promise…..”
Adrien was sitting closer to her now, rubbing circles into her back in an attempt to calm her down and unable to comprehend why his lady was so distraught when she’d seemed alright just a minute ago.
Normally, Marinette would have been over the moon to be so close to Adrien.
But the thought of poor Chat Noir all alone in a barren Paris was too horrible to be chased away by Adrien’s close proximity.
“It’s all my fault…..” Marinette wept. “I’m a horrible Ladybug...I can’t even keep my identity a secret and now Chat Noir will suffer for it….”
Adrien stiffened. What did Chat Noir have to do with any of this?
“You are NOT a horrible Ladybug, Marinette….” Adrien assured her. “It’s not your fault that I found out your identity, honestly! Why is this so bad?”
Was HE the problem? Did Marinette already know his identity? Was she disappointed?
Marinette bit her lip, straining to hold back tears that threatened to continue falling.
“...the last time you found out my identity, Chat Noir was akumatized….” she sniffled.
Adrien’s stomach plummeted. “Wait, what? What do you mean? What last time? And I--er--I never saw any footage of Chat Noir as an akuma! I mean, unless you count Copycat, which I don’t.”
Adrien wished he could forget THAT day.
“You’re right, he hasn’t been akumatized…” Marinette agreed. “...not anymore, anyway.”
Shadows of an abandoned city haunted Marinette’s eyes as she gazed out over Paris. Adrien couldn’t see what she was seeing...and yet he shuddered .
“But in an alternate timeline…” Marinette whispered. “...you found out my identity. And somehow it led to Chat Noir finding out my identity….which led to him being akumatized.”
An alternate timeline? A faint shudder glided along Adrien’s shoulders, phantoms of a life he never lived chilling him to the bone.
“But….but how? I only figured out your identity today,” Adrien replied.
“It wasn’t always this way….do you remember the beret I brought you from your fanclub in Brazil?”
“Yeah! I love that beret! But that was a while ago...what does that have to do with this?”
Ladybug bit her lip. “Well….that beret was actually from me. Marinette. I meant to give it to you as Marinette, but you weren’t home...so I left it in your room as Ladybug. In the original timeline, I signed my name on the card and bugged out without being seen...or at least that’s what I thought. But then Bunnix grabbed me and brought me to the future that mistake led to...a future where Chat Noir had been akumatized and...and bad things happened.
“It isn’t that I don’t trust you Adrien, I do!! But somehow, you learning my secret identity led to Chat’s akumatization….”
Adrien considered his next words carefully. If he’d been akumatized for knowing Ladybug’s identity in the past--or, well, in the future--he had to tell her the truth about his own identity.
Maybe doing so would prevent anything bad from happening this time around.
“Well, I’m not sure why Chat Noir would have gotten akumatized...but I think I know how he was able to figure out your identity….” he said thoughtfully.
“What? How??”
“Well, Chat and I both have a similar...perspective on things…” Adrien said slowly. “...you could say that, if I figured out your identity, Chat would too.”
“but...but...you mean you told him?” Marinette asked incredulously. “I don’t understand.”
Adrien bit his lip before continuing. “Well, when two beautiful girls, one with a mask and one without, ask you to trust them twice in the same week, it’s hard NOT to see behind the second girl’s mask and find the first girl beneath.”
Ladybug’s eyes narrowed, the gears in her head turning. “But...I barely talked to you as Marinette last week...the only other person I asked to trust me is….”
Her breath caught in her throat.
“Chat.”
A roguish glint twinkled in Adrien’s eye.
“We should hang out like this more often, m’lady.”
“Oh my gosh. Ohhh my gosh. Oh my GOSH OH MY GOSH.”
Marinette was hyperventilating, looking around in every direction but at Adrien, as if searching for some sort of clarity in the vast city sprawling below them.
“You’re Chat Noir. You’re CHAT NOIR. YOU’VE BEEN CHAT NOIR ALL THIS TIME OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH it all makes SENSE but it also DOESN’T OH GOSH.”
“Are...are you upset?” Adrien dared to ask as Marinette paused to take a few breaths. “I know you wanted us to keep our identities a secret, but--”
“Upset?” Marinette let out a strained laugh. “No, no, I’m not upset. I just….all this time...two of the people I care about more than anything in the world...they’ve been the same person. It’s just...I...it’s a lot to process…”
“Believe me.” Adrien squeezed her hand gently. “I know the feeling.
“Do you want me to transform? Would that make you feel more comfortable with...all this?”
“No, no!!” Marinette stuttered, gesturing about. “I mean! If you want to transform, that’s fine! But if you don’t want to, that’s fine too! Whatever you want to do...anything is fine.”
Her gaze was still distant. She wouldn’t look at him.
“...are you thinking about the future?” Adrien asked, trying to ignore the pit of dread slowly forming in his gut.
“....maybe…” Marinette replied softly. She clenched her eyes shut, as if to chase away the images haunting her mind.
“Do you want to talk about it? Maybe we can figure out how I got akumatized back then, figure out how to keep it from happening again.”
“No…” Marinette took a deep breath. “I think it might be best if I took you home. I don’t want your father discovering you’ve been gone for so long, considering how he’s been treating you this week.
“Or, you know, if you’d rather transform and go home yourself, that’s alright too! I just...I think I need more time to think about all this. Before we figure out how things are going to work from here.”
“Will I need to give my miraculous back?”
Marinette finally looked at him at that.
“Are you kidding? No one can be my partner but you, Chaton. You’re irreplaceable. You know that.”
She caressed his palm with the tip of her thumb.
“I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
For a few seconds, Marinette and Adrien sat in silence...Marinette finding the partner she’d grown to depend on and care for so much in the features of the boy she’d loved from the day they met, and Adrien seeing beyond the mask of his lady for the girl who’d been there for him since they shared an umbrella on a fateful rainy day.
Adrien broke the silence with a whispered request.
“...do you mind taking me home? I think Plagg is asleep in my jacket, and I’d hate to wake him.”
“...I’d be happy to.”
It was our love that did this to the world, m’lady.
The words echoed in Ladybug’s head like a warning siren as she soared over Paris, their volume only amplified by the proximity of the boy she cradled in her free arm.
Chat Noir loved her.
ADRIEN loved her.
And that love had destroyed their world.
Learning the identity of her partner brought many of the walls Marinette had constructed around her feelings crashing down. She now understood just how deeply she cared for Chat Noir...understood why the feelings lingering beneath the surface of her subconscious felt right, even though she loved Adrien so much already.
Those feelings were one and the same. And now?
They were stronger and ever.
But new walls were already sprouting to take the place of the old ones.
Because now, loving Adrien--AND loving Chat--meant risking everything.
Paris.
The world.
And above all….Adrien himself.
Marinette never wanted him to suffer the heartache and devastation his alternate counterpart had. How could she confess her feelings to him when she knew the horrible outcome that could follow it? That had ALREADY followed it?
Maybe Bunnix wouldn’t be able to save them this time.
She couldn’t reveal her feelings. Not yet, anyway.
It wasn’t safe.
“Thank you for tonight, Mari...uh...Ladybug...I feel better than I have in a long time.”
A smile tugged at Marinette’s lips as she swung to a stop at Adrien’s window and helped her partner climb inside. She remained outside, still held taut by her yo-yo string. “I’m glad I was able to help...even if YOU took our discussion in a direction I never would have expected.”
Adrien smirked. “Cats have a way of bringing things out of the bag.”
Marinette rolled her eyes with a grin. “So I’ve learned.”
“You know, speaking of our discussion....” Adrien leaned out over the railing until he was looking up at Ladybug as she dangled a few feet above him. “Hearing you say how loved I am as Ladybug reminded me of how compassionate and caring you are as Marinette, which was more or less definitive proof that you ARE Marinette, you know?
“But...even if that was a very ‘Marinette’ thing of you to say...I can’t help but wonder who you were referring to. Who could love me that much?”
“Uhh, uhhhh…..”
Marinette was blushing and CURSING herself for blushing because this was a matter of literal life-and-death but she just couldn’t help it. She’d been relying on the elusiveness of her identity to conceal the fact she was talking about her own love for Adrien as Ladybug, but now that they knew each other’s identities, that elusiveness had been nullified...and she’d basically admitted her feelings to Adrien already.
“Our friends!” she finally stuttered, doing her best to sound casual.
“Our friends love you! And our teachers! And myself, of course, because of COURSE I love you! Er, as my friend! Just like Alya loves you! Or Nino!”
Adrien couldn’t help but smile at her rambling explanation, even if the words themselves weren’t quite what he was hoping for. There was the Marinette he knew and...well…
He didn’t allow his mind to finish that statement.
"That’s what I figured!” he replied with a smile. “I just wanted to make sure.”
“Well, anyway, I should probably head home…” Marinette said, already envisioning flopping on her bed and shrieking at Tikki for a couple of hours. “I still have some studying to do.”
“I guess I’ll see you at school on Monday,” Adrien replied. “Or maybe for patrol before then?”
“Maybe!” Marinette replied with a smile. “And Adrien…
“If you ever need to escape or just, you know, sneak out and hang out with our friends...just let me know. Ladybug is always willing to protect an unsuspecting akuma target or potential akuma victim by stealing him away for a few hours.”
There was a hint of truth in the latter part of that statement that didn’t really resonate with Marinette until it left her tongue. Adrien, fortunately, didn’t seem to pick up on it at all, as his face was beaming.
“I’ll definitely take you up on that, m’lady.”
“Good. Well, uh...bug out, I guess!”
Marinette tugged on the yo-yo string, prepared to make her exit as gracefully as possible.
...but her yo-yo apparently had other plans tonight.
Perhaps by chance, perhaps by luck, or perhaps by divine kwami intervention, Ladybug’s yo-yo did not send her shooting into the sky as it normally did. Rather, it sent her barreling downward.
Not too far downward, fortunately.
Just far enough to crash into Adrien’s lips with her own.
The first few seconds were a kaleidoscope of emotions and feelings and sensations because THEY HADN’T DISCUSSED THEIR FEELINGS and this would make things AWKWARD and ADRIEN DIDN’T THINK MARINETTE LIKED HIM THAT WAY AT ALL and MARINETTE COULDN’T LET ADRIEN KNOW JUST HOW MUCH SHE CARED because THE WORLD WAS AT STAKE.
...but the softness of Adrien’s lips against hers rapidly tore down the walls Marinette had hastily constructed barely an hour ago.
He loved her.
She loved him.
Maybe their situation was complicated, sure, but...they loved each other.
Maybe the world was at stake...but it had always been the two of them against the world, hadn’t it?
Adrien’s first instinct was to go rigid as Marinette melted into the kiss. She didn’t like him, right? She just wanted to be friends, right?? This couldn’t be happening...right???
But as Ladybug gently cradled his face with her hand, Adrien realized he might have been wrong about all that.
It would have been quite a sight for the papers and blogs. Paris’s favorite hero and their favorite star, tenderly expressing their love for one another under a moonlit sky.
But Lady Luck was on their side tonight...the streets of Paris were quiet.
This moment was theirs and theirs alone.
“...so...I think I understand who you were referring to earlier….” Adrien whispered, eyes wide.
“You know….when you said I was loved in ways I couldn’t even imagine….”
Marinette’s eyes twinkled as she brushed a lock of golden hair behind his ear and leaned in to press a kiss against his cheek.
“You always were a smart kitty.”
The rational part of Marinette’s brain reminded her of why she’d been so adamant not to let this happen in the first place, and she flinched.
“We can talk more about...this...on patrol…” she said, “but for now...let’s just agree to keep everything between us, okay?”
Perhaps in the other timeline, she and Adrien had dated publicly, which led to Hawkmoth discovering their identities, Marinette reasoned. Keeping their feelings for one-another a secret might allow them to be together while also protecting themselves.
“Whatever you say, m’lady,” Adrien replied dreamily.
He didn’t need the world to know how lucky he felt to love and be loved by such an amazing girl.
All that mattered was that he knew.
“Goodnight, my beautiful princess…” he whispered.
Marinette blushed, the warmth of their kiss still lingering on her lips and the joy of finally, FINALLY expressing her feelings to Adrien bringing tears to her eyes.
They’d find a way to make this work.
They WERE Ladybug and Chat Noir, after all.
“Sleep well, my prince.”