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One night was all it took.
One night in each other’s arms was all it took to destroy their carefully cultivated friendship.
Or so Marinette thought.
It had been almost 2 months since Chat Noir had woken up beside her. It had been three weeks since she had last seen him as Ladybug, and even then he hadn’t been able to look at her.
In her classes, her fellow designers kept saying that Adrien was staring at her, but after what she had done with Chat, how could she ever look at someone like Adrien ever again?
Not that it was easy to avoid Adrien when he was her assigned model. So, as the days turned to weeks, she spent less and less time with him.
The friendly chatter they once shared now died even before he opened his mouth.
Marinette couldn’t bear the way her heart tore at the sight of him, so she tried to spend exactly as much time with him as school required, and not a minute more.
He would catch her wrist, or call after her, but her emotions were running to wild. She couldn’t risk dragging him into her mess. She would tailor his clothes, but she wouldn’t meet his pleading eyes.
Marinette wasn’t blind. She could tell he was worried about her. Everyone around them could.
She could hear her classmates whispering. Some of her sweeter colleagues expressed concern. Marinette waved them all off.
She was fine, she argued with herself at night.
She was an independent woman. She was the top of her class, already signed to an internship for the spring term.
She didn’t need Chat screwing with her head. She wouldn’t let him.
But, she was failing, and somehow Adrien knew it.
She felt so guilty around him now. She claimed to be in love with him. She believed it too. She had never quite outgrown her crush from collège. Even now that they were in university, her heart still raced around him.
And yet, Marinette couldn’t lie to her heart any longer. She had given herself (and even her heart) to another, and the worst part was that she would do it all over again.
Her heart ached whenever she thought about her crime-fighting partner. She wondered why he hadn’t come to see her since their night together.
All the lingering gazes, all the touches that lasted a bit too long, and all of the little sparks had come crashing together from the moment their lips met.
He had been so gentle with her. Soft kisses. Asking eyes. So loving, she recalled with watering eyes.
Had he been ashamed of her? Did he feel as guilty as she did, only about her alter ego?
Was he ever going to come back to her?
The questions were nagging and incessant, and as the day wore on, the dull ache in Marinette’s head grew to a migraine.
Adrien’s worry had intensified; she could feel it without looking. Their instructor’s voice had long faded from her ears. She offered Adrien a smile before turning back to her cutting table.
Two more hours until she could go back to her dorm. Two more hours. Two-
The world swayed beneath her feet, and she felt her vision failing.
Her palms slammed onto the table in an effort to catch herself. The table jumped, and Marinette’s knees buckled at the force.
Just before she fell, she saw Adrien’s handsome face contorted in worry. His eyes looked so much like her silly cat’s, she thought deliriously.
The sharp light was the first thing Marinette registered when she woke up. A cursory glance around revealed that she was in a hospital bed with Adrien hunched over her bedside, seemingly asleep.
As soon as she stirred, he bolted upright, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and staring at her a look that confused Marinette to no end.
Adoration, worry, and anger were the most noticeable emotions on his face. He looked so pale in the hospital lighting. Marinette almost thought he should be the one in the bed from how dark the circles beneath his eyes looked.
“Adrien,” she whispered. Her voice was hoarse. She wondered how long she had been out.
His lip trembled as he pulled her into a tight hug. His eyes were brimming with tears, but he decided to scold her anyway. "What were you thinking!"
Blue eyes blinked. “What?” Marinette glanced down at the sheets as his hair tickled her nose.
Adrien choked, swallowing more tears. “Marinette, you shouldn’t be overworking yourself in your condition!”
Condition? Was something wrong with her?
Adrien barreled on, “If you needed help, you should have said something. Taking everything on alone is ridiculous, Marinette. What would I have told the professor or your parents?" He sighed in exasperation, his eyes ringed with worry.
She gripped the sheets in her white knuckles, letting out a morose chuckle that was followed by a sob. She thought she had been doing so well after Chat left, but apparently not. She had driven herself to illness.
She started shaking in Adrien’s arms, letting go of the sheet in order to wrap her arms around him. The guilt resurfaced.
How could she be clinging to her longtime friend and crush while her heart pined for another?
“I'm sorry. I'm always causing you trouble,” she blubbered, feeling the sticky tears staining her cheeks.
Ever since they had gone to fashion school together, she felt like Adrien had been offering her support even when she knew he didn't have any himself.
He rubbed her back, his anger dwindling as he continued to hold her. "Hey, I'm sorry for getting worked up. I was worried. I just wish you had told me.” He pulled back and brushed her bangs out of the way. “It's all my fault, Marinette. If I had just been thinking clearly, you wouldn't be in this position. I just wish you had told me about the baby. You could have seriously hurt yourself by not eating right and overworking yourself."
Marinette froze in his arms, making the model cease his worried rant.
“W-what? Adrien, what are you talking about?" Marinette felt terrible realization racing down her spine as Adrien paused to look at her.
He pulled away, his eyes widening like dinner plates. "You didn't- you didn't know...” He pulled away from her, looking blindsided. “Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Shit! This is all my fault. Why am I so stupid?" he hissed as he ran his fingers through his hair.
If she hadn't been freaking out, she might have found the quirk to be cute.
"Marinette, you-you're two months pregnant.” He had scooted to the edge of the bed and was currently staring at the floor. “I thought you already knew. I'm so sorry!” He bit his lip and glanced up at her. “I told the doctors that we were together, otherwise they wouldn't have let me in."
Marinette looked at him dumbly for a second, but then she burst out laughing. He startled at the noise, but her laughter quickly turned to fresh tears.
“Of all the people," she sobbed, "I had to pick the one who got tired of me. I haven't even seen him in weeks.” She placed a hand on her stomach and sobbed. “He must be so ashamed of me. I guess I'm really an idiot," she said, covering her face with her hands as she cried.
Adrien immediately pulled her back into a hug, rushing to soothe her. "Marinette, no. No, please. I'm the idiot. I told you, this is all my fault. Please,” he begged, gently trying to pull her hands away from her eyes, “Princess, don't cry."
Marinette startled at the use of Chat's nickname for her, her sobs halted in shock. She let her hands fall so they could see eye to eye for the first time in weeks. "Why are you apologizing?"
He sighed, steepling his fingers. "Because I'm the father," he whispered, his emerald eyes searching hers to see if she understood. "I'm Chat Noir. I have been from the start.”
If not for the heart monitor, Marinette would have sworn her pulse had stopped.
Adrien tightened his grip on her hands. “I'm so sorry I never told you, Mari, but I was scared about how you would feel if you knew who was under the mask. You always treated Adrien differently, and I thought that if you knew who I was, you would walk on eggshells again.” Guilt was written all over his face. “I'm so sorry; I should have stopped before you got hurt, but I got greedy."
Her mind stopped processing after realizing that he was telling the truth.
She tried to push him away. "What about Ladybug?"
“Marinette, I loved Ladybug for years, but I love you, too, and right here, right now, you mean more to me than anyone else.” He willed as much earnest love into his voice as he could, and she believed him.
“I love you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I have loved you for years.” He kissed her knuckles before bowing his head. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Whatever you want to do, I will support you.”
He knew she could walk away. From him. From Paris. From everything. And he loved her enough to let her. “Just know that I really do love you, and that our night together meant the world to me."
Marinette withdrew her hand and wrapped her arms around her waist.
“So why didn't you come around for weeks?” she hissed. “Do you know how many nights I sat on the balcony hoping you would come back?! I thought you were ashamed of me and never wanted to see me again!" she shouted, and then, much softer, she continued, "I thought I had lost you. I love you, you stupid cat."
He wiped her tears with his thumb, relieved when she didn’t pull away. "I'm so sorry, but I was scared.” He scooted closer, and she hated to admit the passionate shift in the air. “I was scared of what our relationship meant to me. Scared of how I would have to face My La- Ladybug- and my father.”
Marinette sighed when their foreheads rested together.
Adrien continued. “I was also scared of what it meant to you. I knew you were in love with someone else, too. I didn’t want to ruin that for you.”
Marinette made a noise he couldn’t quite decipher.
“I know I can’t replace the boy you loved, but I'm here for you, Marinette. I'm in love with you. I have been since we were in collège."
Marinette groaned loudly and grabbed his cheeks before kissing him.
Those lips. His lips. The ones that always felt right against her own.
Her first kiss had been Chat Noir. A kiss to save him. A kiss between friends.
Oblivio has followed, and Marinette was still clueless what made them kiss that day. But now, she knew that it had been him. It had always been him.
“Adrien,” she whispered against his lips, “it was you. You were the other boy I was in love with.”
It was hard to stay mad knowing that the men rending her heart in two were in fact one, and she supposed she could do him the same favor. "Adrien, you don't have to worry about Ladybug either, because she's been by your side all along. I've been there all along, from the Bubbler to the Copy Cat, I've been there." She heard his sharp gasp, but she refused to look at him. Scared of rejection. She continued, her head down and her voice softer than before, "But I never wanted to show you because I thought maybe I wasn't good enough as Marinette."
“Are you kidding me?” Adrien gently cupped her cheek before kissing her forehead. "Princess, you were always out of my league! A legacy baking champ, award-winning gamer and designer, who worked with Jagged stone and Clara Nightingale at age 14?” Adrien ticked each thing off on his fingers. “And that’s barely getting started!
Adrien sobered and nuzzled her cheek. “I'm sorry that things ended up like this, and I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I was an idiot for not just talking to you.”
Marinette squished his cheeks between her hands. “Yes, you really are an idiot.”
He pouted and she giggled.
“Now, don't get me wrong. I'm still mad at you for disappearing like that, but... if you're up for it, I'd like to try this criss-crossed love.”
Adrien beamed, leaning forward, letting her close the gap to kiss him. It was something she had loved about being with Chat; he always let the decision be hers.
She threaded her fingers through his feathery blonde locks while one of his warm hands rested on her shoulder.
Marinette gave him a small smile as she pulled away. "Now what?"
Adrien's face went blank for a moment. "I don't know. I honestly didn't think this far ahead. I guess it's up to you about the baby, but I will support you 100% no matter what you want to do."
Marinette knew he was serious and as weird as the circumstances were, she wanted this, but she also wondered what he wanted. "Adrien, do you want to be a dad?"
“I had already picked out baby names when we were in collège,” he blurted, making both of them blush.
Marinette smiled as she looked from her lap to his bright emerald eyes. (How had she never recognized those eyes?) “Well, then you'd better be ready to put up with me when I'm pregnant and take responsibility because I have a feeling this little one will be a troublemaker just like his daddy," she teased.
He grinned at her proposal. "Not that it matters, but I think this one is a little princess, just like her mommy," he informed Marinette as he pressed his cheek to her stomach.
"We'll see," she retorted, laughing. 'We'll see,' she thought with a soft smile as she gently ran her fingers through his hair.