Chapter Text
Marinette gasped in fright as she closed her closet door.
"Marinette?" Tikki asked, flying over to her. "Is everything okay?"
"Tikki, why do I feel like I forgot something back there?" She asked, the color draining out of her face.
"At the hotel?? No, I don't think so, Marinette!" Tikki chirped. "Adrien was the one who had his everyday clothes in the room-"
"No, I think I forgot my jacket over there at coat check!!" Marinette facepalmed, heavily groaning. "This is just great, how am I supposed to sneak back there an hour after Ladybug disappeared from the party??"
"Well, Ladybug could always sneak in...."
"And get caught stealing my own stuff? My track record on thievery is not exactly great - oh no!!" She gasped. "Do you think Adrien noticed??? Oh no, he noticed, he saw, he probably thinks I don't care about him or-"
"Marinette, relax!!" Tikki said enthusiastically. "This isn't just Adrien, your friend, or Chat Noir, your partner anymore - it's both of them, and he is your boyfriend!"
"Wait -" Marinette realised in horror. "- we didn't even call each other boyfriend and girlfriend - Tikki we didn't even decide upon what we are!!!!! Who forgets that?!"
"Marinette." Tikki sighed. "I understand that being in a relationship for the first time is scary, but that's okay! Adrien is going to be here in a while, and you can talk about it!"
"What about the-" Marinette cut herself off when she heard a familiar thud on her roof.
"It's open!" Marinette called, running over to her ladder to see Chat Noir drop inside. "Why hello there," he drawled. "Come here often?"
"I should hope so, seeing as this is my house." Marinette quipped, and he winced sheepishly.
"Yeah, that went much better in my head, I promise." He said, shaking his head wildly enough to make his kitty ears flop around. "Hey, Tikki!"
"Hi, Adrien. Marinette is catastrophizing everything." Tikki deadpanned.
"Tikki!"
"Claws in." Adrien said, and Plagg materialized.
"I see you've been learning, Sugarcube." Plagg said gleefully. "Hey, Pigtails."
"She doesn't even wear her hair that way anymore!" Adrien defended.
"Kind of still do, as Ladybug, atleast." Marinette said, watching him climb down from her left bed to stand in her room.
"See my point?" Plagg said. "Hey, you have cheese in your bakery?"
"Plagg." Adrien growled. "We've talked about this."
"I have to agree with Adrien, Marinette. Plagg has no self control when it comes to food."
"Who doesn't?" Plagg said, unbothered.
"Don't worry, Plagg." Marinette cooed. "We can talk about that later." She winked.
"Wait, seriously?" Plagg gawked when Marinette nodded. "Aw, yes!! Kid, you better keep her or else-"
"Don't worry," Adrien said, pulling Marinette close by her shoulder. "I intend to."
Marinette could only blush heavily and snort at that. How could he look at her in her pajamas the exact same way he did while in a gown?
"Of course you do." Plagg gagged. "If I hadn't reminded you that you have a curfew both of you would have-"
"OKAY we get it!" Marinette interrupted for both their sakes, though Plagg was right. Things were getting extremely heated and the kwami stopping them before they crossed a bridge they weren't ready to even encounter was good timing.
"Hey guys, do you mind if we....you know?" Adrien asked. "I kind of have to give my girlfriend something anyway."
Tikki gave her a triumphant 'told you so' look before dragging Plagg away to a small corner of Marinette's room.
"Why am I the only one whispering??" Adrien asked anxiously.
"Because.." Marinette stifled a giggle. "My parents are out of town."
The slump in his shoulders was full of relief. "Oh." He said, brightened. "I mean, I really don't want to piss off your father again...."
"Oh don't even get me started." Marinette groaned. "That was all on me for overreacting. But don't worry, I promise my dad will love you. How could he not?"
Adrien's train of thought, however was different. "So....if you, Marinette, who is also Ladybug only wanted to hide your identity from me, Chat Noir, why did you say you loved me?"
Marinette froze.
"I....don't know why I said that....?" She flailed, trying to explain her ridiculousness to her smug boyfriend.
"You wanted to protect your identity and the first thought in your head was to confess?" He was positively shaking with laughter right now.
"Oh stop it." Marinette whined. "This is so embarrassing!"
"Not more embarrassing than the day you nearly kissed my statue-" he was promptly shut up by Marinette plowing his head with a pillow.
"Mention that one more time, and you'll die by my pillow, Agreste." She threatened.
"Yes, ma'am." Adrien choked out in his laughter as he hugged her to his chest to soothe her. "You'll never hear the S word from me ever again."
"You better not." Marinette warned all while cuddling into his chest deeper.
"So, girlfriend, huh?" Marinette said, emitting a shaky laugh. With him in the room, the cacophony of her thoughts were much easier to sort through.
"That is if you want to, I presume?" He answered, nuzzling his nose with hers as he pulled out her jacket to drape it around her shoulders.
"You got it back!" Marinette gasped appreciatively.
"I did." He said, and she could tell it swelled his ego to play her hero.
Not that she minded.
"Thank you!" She squealed before kissing him soundly on the mouth. He looked incredibly dazed when he pulled away, like someone had knocked him out.
"I'm still not used to you doing that." He admitted, his hands moving to her hips. "I don't think I ever will be."
His smile was genuine but she could see the inklings of strain in his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Marinette asked, putting the jacket down and holding his hands. "You didn't get in trouble, did you?"
"Well....I did get told off a little..."
"But you left at 10:30! Don't tell me it took you half an hour to reach your house!"
"Princess, I reached there by 10:40." He deadpanned, looking absolutely done. "It still wasn't enough for him, I guess. That's why I was a little late, I had to make Natalie think that I was asleep before I snuck out."
His tone was bordering on apologetic, and Marinette shushed him. "Don't apologize, you silly cat. I'm just glad you're okay." She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, which he gladly welcomed.
He was just settling into the crook of her neck when Marinette felt him....vibrate?
"Did you purr?" She exclaimed, moving away a little, then softening at his guilty look.
"No, I'm just hungry, I guess." He said sheepishly. "I had to lie by saying I ate at your house as an excuse for why I was late."
Marinette gasped. "So you didn't eat??"
He shook his head.
"Why didn't you eat dinner at your house??? It wasn't that late-"
"He was too impatient to see you." Plagg grumbled, flying over to them. "The boy would have worn out holes in his floor the way he was pacing on it till midnight."
"This....this is unacceptable." Marinette said quietly before pulling herself up. "Wait here, I'll be right back with-"
"-Croissants???" Adrien's eyes lit up.
"Chaton, you know that croissants aren't a filling dinner." Marinette said sternly.
"Pleeeeeeaaaaaseeee." He begged with folded hands. "M'lady, I love you as much as I love croissants."
Marinette just raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
"......as much as Plagg loves camembert?" He said hopefully.
"Leave me out of this!" Plagg said accusingly.
"Although Adrien does have a point." Tikki hummed thoughtfully. "Its very rare to see a love as strong as Plagg's love for his cheese."
Marinette sighed. "Oh alright. I'll be back in a while. Plagg, do you want to choose your food?" She asked the kwami kindly.
Plagg whooped and joined Marinette on her shoulder.
Though slightly disgruntled at the thought of Plagg raiding a bakery, Adrien leaned down to kiss Marinette's cheek. "You're the best." He murmured.
She booped his nose and climbed down her trapdoor.
"Now that Marinette is gone, how about you tell me what's bothering you?" Tikki inquired kindly.
"Wha-?" Adrien flinched. "What are you talking about?"
"I saw how uneasy you looked since you got here, Adrien." Tikki asked warmly, her blue eyes reminiscent of Marinette's. "Is everything okay?"
"Its...not a big deal." Adrien shrugged, his eyes downcast. "Trust me."
"Do you think talking about it might help?" Tikki asked. "Does Plagg know?"
"Yes, Plagg does know- Tikki, really, I appreciate it, but I really don't want to bother Marinette with this, especially since Lila is now-" he slapped a hand over his mouth when he realised he said too much.
"Lila?? What's this about Lila??" Tikki asked alarmed.
"Ssshh!!" Adrien hushed frantically. "Not so loud."
"Did Lila come up to you again?" Tikki scowled protectively. "Did she threaten you? Did she threaten Marinette??"
"NO, I didn't meet Lila, I overheard my father talk about her to Natalie!" Adrien blurted out.
Tikki's jaw dropped open, and Adrien pleaded. "Please, Tikki, just hear me out, it's not as bad as you think. Marinette is in no danger from Lila."
"Alright, if that's the case, why do you look so disturbed?" Tikki asked worriedly. Adrien smiled a little at Tikki's motherly concern.
Adrien sighed resolutely, knowing there was no way he could back out of this now. "I had just gotten home, and well, I should have run up the stairs to my room without either of them noticing, but I heard my name and....I couldn't help it, I overheard Natalie talking about how Lila Rossi was a lost case now that she was expelled."
"That's....strange." Tikki scrunched up her eyebrows. "Why should your father's assistant single out her? Is it because she was a model along with you?"
"Oh no, apparently Lila and my dad have a longer history than that." Adrien said bitterly, his hands fisting together. "I heard him actually lament about how useful of an asset Lila was when it came to 'keeping an eye on me'."
Tikki looked horrified. "What are you saying, Adrien?"
"I think my father had used Lila to spy on me for a really long time now." Adrien said, sighing. "That's why I was late. I had to take some time to take all of this in. That explains why my father used to mention several incidents that happened in school before I could even tell him - that is, if he gave me a chance to. I didn't even tell him about the one time Lila had offhandedly told Nino that she had heard similar beats to his music in some obscure songs her grandfather used to own records of, but lost in the move to France." Adrien scoffed. "Two weeks later, I tell him I'm hanging out with Nino and my dad makes some comment about him being a plagiarist. I should have known."
"Adrien, that's awful!!" Tikki shrieked. "Why...why would a father set someone as awful as Lila on his own child?? That's disgusting! If your father wants to know about your friends, why doesn't he just ask you instead of-" Adrien held Tikki in his palms before she went berserk. "I'm sorry I got so angry." She continued. "But you don't deserve this, Adrien!! Why aren't you angry???"
"This...this isn't the first time my father has made such restrictions." He admitted. "The GPS on my phone, direct contact and reports from our school principal in case I step out of line....I just didn't think Lila was one of them. Tikki, this has happened far too many times for me to be angry."
"Does your father know you know?"
"No, I was in the middle of bolting to my bedroom when he spotted me and told me off for being too late. I guess that's better than getting caught eavesdropping.
"This...this isn't normal." Tikki muttered. "Parents should trust their children and...you've given him no reason to break that trust!"
"You mean except for parkouring around Paris?" He joked.
Tikki was growing exceedingly terrified for Adrien. This wasn't overprotectiveness, this was abuse and control! Adrien wasn't some sort of an animal to be caged like this - and how often had this happened for him to joke about it like it was nothing?
"So this was why Lila was hanging off of you for months?"
"How do you know that?" Adrien asked, surprised.
"Marinette was extremely worried about you. She tells me all the time - wait, Marinette. You have to tell Marinette!"
"No!!" Adrien said,desperately. "No, Tikki, there's no need to worry her. She's suffered from Lila enough-"
"This isn't about her, it's about you!"
"I'm not in any danger anymore. Lila is not getting unexpelled anytime soon, she's still fired from the brand-"
"Is she? Or is your father lying to you again?"
"No, really, she is. There's this huge shoot that used to feature the both of us being reworked to feature only me - she's not really a threat anymore. My father was only talking about a former problem. Really. He's not in association with Lila, and he can't afford to be either, because now she's known as the girl who faked being Ladybug's best friend, and Marinette even knows that I've got something else on her if she tries any of her tricks.
"Adrien..." Tikki said uncertainly. "I won't tell her if you don't want me to, I promise, but Marinette would want to know."
"I don't want her to worry, Tikki." Adrien pleaded. "She's got a better hold of this guardian thing but I can still see how much stress she's under. She doesn't need to worry about a problem that doesn't even exist anymore. Please, don't tell her."
Tikki sighed. "You have my word, Adrien. I won't tell her anything."
"Thank you-"
"Hey hey hey!!!" Plagg zoomed into the room. "Look what Pigtails got for us!"
"He simply couldn't wait!" Marinette said, struggling to open the hatch while balancing the tray of food.
"Allow me!" Adrien zipped over to her side to hold it upright so she could climb up properly.
"Thanks." She whispered gratefully as she placed the tray on her chaise.
"Feast away, little ones." She said happily watching Plagg already munch on his Camembert. Tikki paused to give Marinette a small kiss on the cheek as gratitude before taking a bite out of her cookie.
"Its kind of unfair, don't you think?" Adrien wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You get a kwami that doesn't eat something stinky and you don't have to smell like it 24/7."
"Don't even." Marinette turned around in his arms to look at him. "Plagg is wonderful. His love for cheese is endearing."
He buried his nose in her neck, taking a long and pointed whiff. "Your smell of cookies is endearing."
"Silly chaton." Marinette said, pecking his nose when he moved away.
That was when he noticed the apple pie on the plate, as well as passionfruit macarons on the side.
"Sorry I couldn't get croissants." She looked genuinely sorry. "They were all baked two days ago and the bakery has been closed for the weekend. I couldn't possibly give you any stale ones."
His heart melted at her caring nature. "Are those passionfruit?" was all he could ask.
"Yep!!" Marinette said excitedly.
"You remembered my favourite flavour?" His hands cupped her cheeks; the right one - with the ringed finger burying itself in her loose hair.
"Of course I did." She said like she was informing him about the weather. "Couldn't let my kitty go hungry now, could I?"
Adrien didn't know why he was having such an emotional reaction to macarons. Maybe it was the fact that she remembered such a mundane detail about him. Maybe it was because she had made or picked it out with so much love. Maybe it was because today was the first time in over a month he didn't get to eat dinner alone.
All he knew was that he would be a monster for wiping that adorable smile off her face if he were to ever tell her about Lila.
Leaning down, he kissed her, gently yet deeply, trying to convey just how much he wanted her, no, how much he needed her, to never ever give her cause to doubt how much he loved her.
She let out a small breathy gasp when he pulled away, and the noise was so cute he couldn't help going back in to sneak another, tiny kiss.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?" Marinette asked, one of her fingers tracing his lips.
"What? This poor stray can't kiss his lady every now and then?" He said and she laughed.
"I should feed you more if this is what I get everytime I do."
Before Adrien could kiss her again, a dry voice interrupted. "So you wouldn't mind if I had a bite out of one of those passionfruit macaroons now?"
Marinette rolled her eyes at Plagg's comment. "Nope, I've got something better." She said, kissing Adrien's cheek soundly.
"And you hate macaroons." Adrien said, looking extremely self satisfied as he dropped a kiss on her forehead.
"Okay now you two are just being mean!!" Plagg exclaimed in offense as he watched them kiss again.
This time Adrien had lifted Marinette up into his arms, which made Tikki chuckle.
"Tikki, why are you laughing?? You are supposed to be on my side!!"