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He could've been sitting there as Adrien, having even more fun, and... generally speaking, he could keep things less complicated and just meet with his friends for a sleepover at Marinette's place. That was a perfect solution, spending time with his friends as his civilian self, tasting the life of just a normal teenager... But, as always, his plans had gone up in smoke.
His father.
He let him go to a sleepover at Nino's for the first time (well, they spend it in Alya house, but Nino was there, so it counts, right?), for the second time to Nino (well, it was indeed Nino's room, but this time Kim, Max, Alya, Marinette, and Alix were there as well), and even the third time (Nino was then a DJ in Kubdel's residence, so you might say that this party was owned by him) and all the other times when it was just a 'casual sleepover at Nino's' his père had zero objections to spending time as a normal teenager with his friend.
And it never slipped out before that he wasn't exactly going to Lahiffe's house or that he's planning to spend time with plenty more people than he said. Once, when he was close to saying too much, Plagg stabbed his rib with his tiny claw as hard as only demigod could, but he wasn't mad at his kwami for that - in the end, he literally saved his ass.
But this time, it was different.
He wasn't going to say a word about Dupain-Cheng's bakery. Plagg almost vibrated in his pocket during the conversation with his father and that was keeping him in line, but a simple thought about the night spend among smell of the fresh pastries and all the baked goods made by practically the best bakers in whole Paris had messed with his mind. Of course, he cheated a little - from time to time he appeared at Boulangerie Patisserie roof as an alley cat to be the first one to taste new creations of Marinette's parents - but let's not think about that now. Eventually, his father had to figure out what's going on; if Adrien was planning to sleep at his best friend place, a family of an aspiring fashion designer shouldn't come into play.
He tried to somehow fix it by saying that Tom and Sabine will only give them some snacks for the night and that's why they have to swing by Boulangerie Patisserie, but his father was ruthless (as always). Some yelling happened, Adrien forgot himself for a while - equality of their relationship depended on the rule that when Gabe is screaming, his son not exactly have the privilege to - and that was the icing on the cake.
One way or another, Adrien was furious. That was a Friday night, they've been talking about this sleepover for the whole week, and he had to admit that since Marinette had learned to form the full sentence in front of him (when they were alone - in larger group Alya was her calming pill) and they were hanging out after school more often, he grew very fond of spending time with her. Not forgetting about his little secret - when he hid behind the mask, his Princess changed into a confident, mischievous, hilarious and a little cocky girl.
Well, of course he still loved Ladybug and if he could, he would spend this evening with her, because spending time with her was always memorable and miraculous, but for an unknown reasons she couldn't make it to the patrol tonight and because of this, neither Adrien or his alter ego didn't know what to do with themselves. And something inside of him was screaming, that even if he would have to get away for a patrol, he wanted really badly, like every kid in his age, to spend this Friday night among his friends, eat some junk food, play silly games and talk about the most abstract things.
Anyway, Adrien could've been sitting in his Ladybug themed pj's made by Marinette in her pink room and watch Nino making a fool of himself, or listen to Alya and her interpretations of the abilities that came with Ladybug miraculous (Marinette always seemed to enjoy that the most, because she sometimes almost choked on her laughter - not surprising, some of the blogger's ideas were so ridiculous, that if he told his Lady about them, she would have fallen off the roof).
So, yeah.
Adrien was determined. He wanted this sleepover, so he'll have his sleepover. Going to the collège has added him some claws, and he learned to fight for himself.
"Kid, I'm not even asking if it's a good idea because you kno-"
"Plagg, CLAWS OUT!"
***
Tap, tap, tap.
"Huh? Marinette, I think there's someone on your roof?" Alya rightly pointed out, and Marinette suddenly felt anxious - what this stupid cat wanted here, she told him, that she'll be having her friends for the night!
"Maybe Adrien got out from his old man and he didn't want to raise suspicions with Marinette's parents?"
"Adrien climbing to the roof? I know that he's a perfect child, but let's be real."
Meanwhile, Marinette knew very well who just appeared on her balcony. She knew this sometimes annoying sound of the long claws tapping on her trapdoors by heart and she didn't know how to play it so Nino and Alya wouldn't figure out that it's infamous Paris superhero that visits her since at least last few months. Well, after the while, her plan was simple. Jump quickly to the balcony, throw him off the roof if it's needed and go back to her friends like nothing ever happened.
Unfortunately, this mangy cat has other plans.
"Goooood evening, Purr-incess!" she never got a chance to react after landing on the bed with an oversized cat on her and suddenly she felt the urge to murder.
"Chat Noir, get off me," she growled at him in a threatening tone.
"CHAT NOIR!?" DJ and blogger screamed in sync, but this time even she needed an explanation and the reason why he called her Princess knowing that the others are here.
"What are you doing here?" this time the three voices turned to him, and so he came down to them, leaving shocked Marinette on the bed with his hands raised in a defensive way.
"Easy." he landed gracefully in front of two teenagers, not using his baton in case of ruining anything in Marinette's room. "I've heard from Marinette that she will be having the two of my favorite civilians for the night, so I decided to drop by and maybe keep you company. Of course, I don't want to interrupt, but how are you feline about the sleepover with a superhero?"
"Sleepover with Chat Noir!?" Alya shrieked and the playful sparkles appeared in her eyes.
"THAT"S AWESOME!" Nino turned into his fanboy mode. "Only thing missing now is Adrien!"
"And Ladybug!"
"Hey, do I even have a voice here?" Marinette appeared behind Chat with her eyes on him.
"Oh, fur-give me, my Princess, but I thought that you're paw-sitive about my presence here."
"Limit your puns and maybe I'll stand you." she rolled her eyes and turned into her shocked and somehow excited friends. "Yeah, we know each other. He saved me few times and after I fed him he never stopped coming back. No big deal."
"Well, you came to the right place. Jumping off on the rooftops and fighting evil is tiring, and you're thin as hell anyway, so pastries from Marinette's parents' bakery will keep your diet balanced." Alya said and playfully poked his bell; after all, Adrien noticed that she only got flustered around Ladybug. "Now let's get this night started since you're in, there is no time to lose."
And that's how Adrien, no Chat Noir, spend time just like he wanted to, well, almost. He didn't expect that he will be in his mask and he would have to try so hard to save his identity from slipping out that he actually is Adrien, but still. They didn't treat him any different and didn't put him on a pedestal - they were throwing popcorn at him, treated him equally during games and didn't try to act differently just because he was a public figure. Eventually, after one movie, a round of bingo and Alya's scary story after which even Adrien was afraid to be the first to get up to the light switch, blogger decided to take the pressure off.
"Fine. It's time to play spin the bottle."
Chat froze. Of course, he always memorized spin the bottle as the coolest and inseparable part of a sleepover in this or a bit larger company, but this time he was a bit worried - he had his limits after all.
"But no questions about my identity!" he underlined quickly, once he was back from his thoughts.
"Easy, Chat Noir. I can guess you're in our age, so we'll focus on normal rules. Without any questions that may lead us to discover your identity." Alya smiled at him and so after the while, they were sitting in the circle on the floor near Marinette's desk.
He breathed a great sigh of relief when the questions really avoided any obvious hints about his identity. Nino has to sing a serenade for Alya - fine, he was an amazing DJ and he knew everything about music, but his voice wasn't good to serenades. Blogger herself had to upload her picture with Chat to Ladyblog and underline that for this day she changed her idol and now she's worshipping Chat Noir, and Marinette had to comb his hair into a little ponytail on the top and that's how he had to look till the end of the night. And everything was quite innocent and safe - until...
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." mocking Chloe by Alya came out great, what made them all laugh. "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth. It's been a dare before," she said, completely chill about it and once again Chat caught himself admiring her confidence to the point where she was similar to Ladybug.
"Have you ever had a crush on Chat Noir?" question instantly dumbfounded two involved people.
Not knowing why, both hold their breath and didn't even look at each other, probably because of some fear of what they may see in each other eyes. Lately, things got weird inside their heads and they couldn't face their growing feelings towards each other without betraying the ones they loved at first. Marinette laugh sounded fake, or that's what Adrien noticed after spending more time with her as his alter ego, and so she shook her head.
"No." why does it felt like she was lying?
"Purr-incess! You wound me. I thought that you can't resist me!" why does her answer make him feel so miserable?
"In your dreams, Kitty." she laughed again to somehow hide uncertainty in her voice and she spun the empty bottle. "Alya!"
"Bring me a dare, sister."
"Lick Nino's cheek." Marinette shrugged and even though Alya cringed, her best friend knew that it was just her boyfriend so she won't have any problem with it; besides, her mind seemed to work too slow to came up with the better dare at the moment.
"Done." she spun the bottle and the top pointed to a concentred Chat Noir. "Truth or Dare, hero?"
"Dare" he didn't know if that was a good idea when it came to that certain girl, and so he regretted his choice after a second.
"Kiss Marinette," Alya smirked and shrugged. "You don't have any feelings for each other, so I'm giving you 30 seconds."
Chat looked at Marinette. Marinette looked at him. No. This was a bad idea, how could she kiss someone who wasn't Adrien in front of Alya, no that she'd have a chance, but still! She tried to somehow convince herself that it's only a stupid dare and Chat doesn't have any pledges left - his staff was already laying on the other side of the room, and he couldn't give away his suit or mask. She also tried to convince herself that he wasn't attractive in any way, even if his stupid lips looked stupidly kissable. He took a deep breath, shrugged and send her an ensuring smile which looked strangely familiar to her.
"Ready?" it looked like during their preparation Alya already set the timer on her phone.
It's just Chat. It's just some stupid dare. "Yeah, I'm ready. What, cat got your tongue?" well, this attitude made it just a bit easier to stop the treacherous blush.
"Paw-lease, Purr-incess. I'm not a scaredy-cat."
It's just a dare and it's just Marinette. Not that he was just about to kiss the prettiest girl from his class, but would it change anything? What happened during this sleepover stayed in this sleepover just like that, Adrien's brain which will be unable to erase this memory for a long time was a different issue.
When Alya announced that it's about time for them to begin, he placed his hand carefully on her cheek, trying not to scratch her accidentally. After the first brush of her lips, he learned that they're as soft as they look like. After the second one, he understood that even in the moments like this she can be playful and sassy. Then, during the next 28 seconds he learned that she's activating the volcano of emotions that he never knew he had inside of him, she's taking his breath away and she's an amazing kisser. Thank kwamis that Alya had a powerful voice because the tiny devil on the back on his head was saying that maybe making out with her in front of their friends in the center of the room will be a good idea.
He gasped for air trying to hide the shock and red cheeks, and why the hell suddenly it was so hot here when they opened the window before? Blessing in disguise, girl looked similar and she was glancing at him with her bluebell, big eyes and her lips were a little swollen from the moment when Chat was losing control of what he's doing during this short amount of time that seemed to be lasting hours and oh my God he wanted to kiss her again and again and again...
"Ekhm." Marinette made a mental note to herself to mock Alya later for the glimpse of laughter in her voice.
"Chat Noir, it's your turn." it seemed like Nino was enjoying this as well. Traitors.
"Of course." he almost squeaked, and either he was wrong or he caught the flicker of a smile on that purr-fectly kissable lips of his Princess.
For the next two hours they finished spin the bottle with another round, sneaked out to the bakery for some night snacks and watched some stupid comedy, but even that couldn't stop two certain teenagers before repeating in their minds this wretched dare. Chat was dreaming about kissing his Lady, so why now it all seemed so right? Marinette was relieving her internal crisis a bit like him, trying to understand why she let herself lose the next kiss, a hell of a good one, on the lips of her partner instead of Adrien.
When Alya and Nino fell asleep (they were first like always), they decided to go out on the balcony and don't interrupt them. Chat rested his back on the railing and looked at the moon, and so Marinette appeared beside him next minute.
"You'll be going home soon?" she asked, trying to avoid his eyes.
"Yeah. I've come here without any approval from my family after an argument so I have to be careful tonight. But it was worth it. I didn't want to stay at home tonight."
"I'm glad you stopped by. You made our night and we were having lots of fun."
"Well, behind that mask I'm just a reckless teenager." he laughed and leaned in closer to her.
First of all. Reckless? What happened to the filter of the words that are leaving his mouth? Second of all, why does he suddenly decided to drastically move closer to her?
He guessed that he won't get an answer to any of his questions when he was kissing with Marinette again like they already missed the sensation after a short time. His hands made their way and soon were tangled in her hair, he felt her arms around his neck and then she was pressing her body to him, closing any left distance between them. And so she was kissing him like he was her oxygen and she needed him to breathe, and he felt truly alive with that summer breeze in his hair and even though it was a forbidden fruit, he never felt this right in his entire life.
10 minutes? Maybe 20 minutes? He lost count after the first minute of clashing their teeth together and attempts to find their own language to explain the things they couldn't put into words. Now he really, really didn't want this to ever end. Maybe if that dare never happened they wouldn't be making out right now on the roof of the bakery, but it seemed like it awakened some kind of the unspoken desire inside of them and they were waiting since forever for this to happen. And Chat wanted more, and more, and more till Marinette moved away from his lips with a cut gasp.
"Chat." her voice didn't help a bit. "What have we done?"
Okay. No matter how much his reckless part of the brain wanted to shush her with his lips and leave that talk for later extending his making out session with Marinette to a maximum, they had to face the consequences. But he wasn't sure what to do. He could deal with the fact that this situation didn't mean anything and continue his pointless chase after unrequired love, or he could let Marinette into his heart with all of her mind-blowing kisses, delicious pastries and the comfort, love, and acceptance he never got before.
"I'm so sorry, Princess." he blurted out eventually, focusing on some point on the ground.
"Don't be sorry. The blame's on the both of us."
They sat under the flowerpots that decorated her balcony, giving it a special, homey atmosphere. At this moment Chat would even move in here, it was thousand times better than his empty, unfamiliar and cold mansion. But he had to focus on the different things now, because what if he ruined their friendship?
"Chat, I shouldn't have kissed you. I... I thought that I loved someone else." she sighed, nervously playing with her fingers.
"I was supposed to stay true to Ladybug," he said at the same time that Marinette finished her sentence.
"I was supposed to stay true to Adrien."
A... Adrien?
Ladybug?
At the same moment, they looked at each other like they've just met. And at the same moment, they both started laughing, even though neither of them knew why the other was laughing.
"We're the worst."
"I'm not sure why you just said it, but I wanted to say that too."
"Ladybug loves you."
"Adrien loves you." once again in sync. "Wait, what?"
"I... I love you?" Marinette smiled sheepishly, waiting for him to put two and two together.
Dark hair, just like night. Bluebell eyes. Identical ponytails. Adorable freckles. The same smile. Confidence. Big heart. If it wasn't the middle of the night he'd probably start dancing and singing, but he had to keep his excitement inside in form of a huge, genuine smile.
"I love you, too."
"Wait, does that mean...?" looked like she also needed a minute to connect the dots, because she immediately turned pale and looked at him with shock in her eyes.
"Surprise?" he tried to smile like Adrien without the mask and cat suit.
Marinette wanted to scream. Of course, she wanted to freak out and let go all the emotions that were racing in her brain, because after all, she was making out with Adrien Agreste for the last half an hour. But she decided to save that for later, and instead, she burst into joyful laughter.
"All of this time I rejected you for you." she facepalmed herself.
"And I was flirting with you and beacause of that I couldn't give the chance to you." he shook his head. "Thank God I really wanted to be at that sleepover tonight."
"Wait, that means that you wanted to spend time with us that you ran away from home as Chat?"
"Yeah. I've waited the whole week for this day and I couldn't let my strict father stand in my way."
Marinette felt as her heart started to flip inside her chest. It was so obvious that Adrien was her Kitty, after all, they've acted quite the same, why hasn't she noticed that she knew only two blondes that were this kind, selfless and wonderful?
"I love you, Adrien." it slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it, but the blush that covered half of his face was worth it.
"I love you too, My Lady." the Cheshire grin came back to his face. "So... How are you feline about a date tomorrow evening?"
"Sounds purr-etty good, mon minou." he grinned even wider, and so she pointed at the trapdoor back to her room. "Well, it all happened because of these two, so what about giving them a little surprise in the coming days?"
***
If someone asked Marinette how she'd spent her weekend, she would probably still be wondering if those two days weren't just a beautiful dream. She'd never been so happy before. Alya was still texting her about a Ladynoir kiss at the top of the Eiffel tower, and for the first time in forever, she couldn't wait for the Monday morning classes.
"Hey, sorry I made Chat Noir kiss you during that dare. But after all, it looks like it somehow helped him with making the move towards Ladybug..." Marinette couldn't stop smiling; if Alya only knew how much she helped them.
"Well, he told me that it all actually happened thanks to you." seeing her friend burst with pure happiness warmed her heart.
"Now I only have to get you and Adrien together and I can die happy!" Alya hugged her cheerfully.
They stopped talking about it for a while after entering the class. Well, Marinette surely couldn't wait for that little dream of her shipper best friend to come true. They have taken their seats and unpacked their tablets from their bags, and after the while, Nino and Adrien also entered the Mme. Bustier class. Blogger greeted them as usual, but bluenette, after quick 'hi' towards Nino, leaned out towards Adrien drawing Alya's attention from watching Chat Noir and Ladybug's kiss for the hundredth time.
"Morning, Hot Stuff," she said it loud enough for the rest of the class to hear, especially their closest friends. "It's good to see you."
At first, Adrien's cheeks burned with a subtle blush, but thank kwamis, he had his answer already prepared, with a little bonus which he hadn't told her about.
"Morning, my beautiful." to her surprise, he stood up and lifted her chin, placing a subtle kiss on her lips.
Chloe's awful shriek was quickly drowned by the rest of the noises that left every corner of the classroom.
From their right they could hear Alya taking photos of them, Nino was proudly patting Adrien on his back.
"Finally!" Alix high-fived Kim as Max handed them his money.
"That was so cute!" Rose automatically hugged her girlfriend.
And when Marinette looked into his deep, green eyes full of love she understood that everything was finally alright. And from now on it was only going to get better.