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Marinette was Ladybug, and Ladybug was Marinette. Adrien still couldn't wrap his head around that fact. When he woke up every day, that was the first thing on his mind. A month after revealing their identities, he still couldn't believe it.
Ladybug was amazing, she really was. She was fearless, tactful, and powerful. She would get the craziest items as her lucky charms and she would somehow figure out how to use them. When Adrien was Mister Bug he wouldn't have figured it out without her help.
And Marinette? She was brilliant. She was a wonderful friend, she looked out for everyone and stood up against Chloe and Lila. She was insanely creative and won every fashion contest she entered her work in. Despite only being seventeen, she displayed such talent that even Gabriel Agreste, the man infamous for not remembering his son's friends, had remembered her.
He didn't think that when he called her their everyday Ladybug, back when they were fourteen, that she would, in fact, turn out to be just that, three years later. But when he found out, he was over the moon and, he had to admit, a bit nervous. Ladybug and Marinette were the two most beautiful and kind souls he'd ever known, and knowing they were the same person, he was pretty intimidated by it. Marinette was completely out of his league.
But that night when they found out, when she saw him and wrapped him in a tight hug, when she pressed her lips against his, hard, all thinking went flying out the window. He found himself kissing her back, feeling her smile against his lips. He had felt the smile almost immediately vanish and she had pulled apart, asking if he was ok with them kissing.
Her cheeks had turned the deepest shade of crimson possible when he'd told her that he would love to kiss her again if she had been fine with it. And he was pretty sure he had too when she said she was.
In an instant their lips found each other again, Adrien melting at Marinette's touch. The world had melted away, and they had been in their own little galaxy when they kissed. He hadn't wanted to pull away for air, but they had to, breathless as they leaned against each other's foreheads. Marinette's bright blue eyes were shining, her whole face glowing, the biggest grin plastered on her face. Adrien's face muscles had hurt he was smiling so much that day.
"-id? Kid?" Plagg waved his paw over Adrien's eyes, floating in front of his face, "Earth to Adrien?"
Adrien snapped back to reality. "Sorry, Plagg."
"Please don't tell me you're still thinking about that kiss from a whole month ago, again," Plagg groaned. When Adrien remained silent, a hand rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Plagg rolled his eyes, "You humans are weird. You can barely talk to her at school without becoming a blushing mess, which leads to two blushing messes trying to talk to each other, you haven't been able to talk to her much after Akuma attacks, mostly just fighting stuff and afterward you say bye all awkwardly, and you haven't really had any patrols together. Yet, here you are, FANGIRLING over a kiss that happened a month ago."
Adrien sighed, "I know, I know, it's just hard not to kiss her again." Adrien blushed, realizing he'd said all of that out loud to Plagg of all people.
Plagg pretended to gag, "Gross. But you can't do that unless you talk to her, you know that right?"
"I know."
Adrien's face lit up with an idea. He checked the time. The bakery wouldn't close for another couple of hours. A smile creeped up his face, and he turned to look out the window, then slowly back at Plagg.
"Oh, no, you don't." Plagg started to float away from Adrien.
"Please, Plagg? How much cheese with it take? One round of Camembert? Two?" Adrien pleaded.
"Ugh, fine. But I expect three rounds of Camembert after this." Upon seeing Adrien's giant grin, he quickly added, "Don't expect this to become a regular thing."
Chat Noir landed on Marinette's rooftop, a bouquet of red roses in hand. She was already waiting for him, as though expecting him to come, sitting in a chair, sketchbook on her lap. She looked up at him, closing her sketchbook and putting it aside. Upon noticing the roses, an eyebrow quirked, a smirk playing at her lips.
The same lips that he had tasted a month prior.
Suddenly, that cold September night felt incredibly hot. He tugged at his collar, clearly his throat quietly. He tried to act normal, and walked over to her, bowing as he gently brought her hand to his lips, "Hello, Princess."
"Hello, chaton."
His brain short circuited when he heard her call him by the nickname she'd given him as Ladybug. The smirk that played on her lips grew wider. She knew exactly what she was doing. So Chat had to play along.
"These are for you, I thought red really suited you," he handed her the roses.
"Thank you, kitty," she made sure to emphasize the nickname, then grabbed her sketchbook, making her way to the trapdoor. She opened the latch then stepped in, poking her head out when he didn't follow her. "What, are you just going to stand out in the cold? Come on."
Hesitantly, he followed her. It wasn't that he hadn't ever been in her room, he had multiple times before, both as Adrien and Chat Noir. But it was the first time since he'd found out, and she was acting weird. Not that he minded that she was being a bit flirty, but he just wasn't used to her not rolling her eyes at him and pushing him back as she scrunched up her nose adorably disapprovingly.
When he dropped down into her room, she was already gone, probably putting the roses in some water or something. He made his way down from her loft and stood in the middle of her small room, surveying the area. It hadn't changed much.
Her room was still very pink, designs cut out of magazines pinned to her walls, sketchbooks and stray papers with designs sketched on them littering her desks, spools and scraps of fabric in a corner with some thread, beads, needles, and a sewing machine. He noticed the magazine cut-outs of him were long gone, but each time he'd visited, he had noticed that they had been gradually replaced with pictures of them and their friends over the years.
His cat ears twitched as Marinette came up the stairs, closing the trapdoor behind her. When he turned around, he did not expect her to set down a plate of cheese on her desk. He must've shown his surprise and confusion, because she then explained,
"You said your Kwami likes cheese, I don't have Camembert, but I got what I could find. Unless, you want to just stay in the suit."
"Plagg, claws in." A familiar flash of green light enveloped him. When it faded, he smiled at her warmly, "How can one person be so caring and thoughtful?" He realized his hands were holding hers, thumbs rubbing circles in the back of her hand tenderly. He didn't stop.
"Why do you guys have to be so mushy?" Plagg whined, "I'm trying to eat my cheese in peace, here."
A red blur zipped past Adrien, out of a hiding place. Then he remembered, it was Ladybug's Kwami, Tikki. "Plagg, don't act like you don't act mushy with your cheese."
"But that's different, Sugar Cube."
"Not really, Stinky Sock," she huffed angrily. She turned to Adrien, her expression softening, "We'll leave you two alone." She then tugged at Plagg, who stuffed as much cheese as possible into his mouth, which was a lot more than anyone would've guessed, and the two of them phased through the ceiling.
"I didn't know they had nicknames for each other," Marinette mused.
"I guess they're kinda like us, giving nicknames for each other, flirting in a weird sort of way." Adrien chuckled, "And Plagg thinks we're weird."
Noticing he was still holding Marinette's hands, he reluctantly let go. Her hands felt good in his.
"So, you finally decided to visit. Why is that?" Marinette asked.
Adrien wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to talk to her, like actually have a conversation, and he also wanted to kiss her. And he wanted to ask about what they were, if there was anything there, and if there ever would be anything there. "Well, erm, I wanted to ask, are we...a thing now?"
Marinette walked over the her chaise, sitting down as she hummed at the question. He sat down next to her, staring intently, hoping that he wouldn't be rejected yet again. "I don't know." He deflated. Three words, not meant to hurt, but disappointing. "I mean, I want that," he perked up slightly, "but it would be weird to randomly start dating. For all our friend know, it's been a weird month of us blushing and stuttering, but they don't know anything else. And if Ladybug and Chat Noir start dating, then Hawk Moth could get us into a whole lot of trouble."
He had to admit, she had a point. "Well, right now we're not a blushing and stuttering mess. Maybe we can try not to do that at school? Maybe start hanging out more, not just like this, get to know one another with our friends there, and then eventually date?" Even if he hated that idea, because that meant he couldn't hold her hand, or hug her, or kiss her senseless, or have her kiss him senseless, it would be the safest idea.
"That would make more sense," she looked at him, "but how long would it take?"
"I don't know." He hated having to say those words. He wished he knew. "But I hope it's not long. I want to be able to brag about you to people. I want to be able to kiss you."
She smirked at him, a mischievous glint in her eye, almost dangerous as she leaned closer to him. "You can kiss me now."
His heart slammed against his chest, his face burning hot. He had wanted to kiss her, of course he did, but he didn't expect her to be so bold. It was pretty hot.
As though realizing how bold she'd gotten, her eyes widened, "Ohmygoshthatwastooforwardwasntitimsosorry!" She spoke so fast, he was barely able to gather what she'd said. She was also completely flustered, that was also distracting him.
Slowly, a smirk made its way on his face. Marinette was usually flustered, seeing her bold and dangerous, it was new. But when she went back to being flustered, well, it was just so adorable. He wanted to see just how much more flustered he could get her.
"No worries, Bugaboo, it was just surprising, that's all. But if you really want to kiss me, you don't have to ask, you can just--"
He didn't have a chance to finish as her lips crashed onto his. His eyes grew wide, any smugness he'd felt before washing away and turning into flustered. She pulled away quickly, before he could even kiss her back.
"Erm, sorry, I couldn't help myself, you looked so smug, like it was a dare..." Marinette stared at the floor.
Adrien tried to steady himself, channeling his inner Chat Noir, "It's not your fault you can't resist me." When her eyes narrowed at him, he continued, "I know I'm irresistible, and I believe I told you I would be long ago, right?"
"If I recall correctly, you threw yourself at me when you found out." She poked his chest, almost accusingly.
"Hmm, I'm afraid I don't recall that..." Adrien pretended to think about it, a fake contemplative frown on his face.
"Oh, really?" Marinette leaned closer to him, her nose brushing against his, breath hot on his face, "Then how about a... reenactment?"
Gosh, bold Marinette really was hot. "Sounds fair."
Then her lips were on his, passionate, hungry, and dangerous. She used so much force that he had to lean back on his elbows to keep himself from falling on his back against the chaise. He smiled against her lips, moving one hand to cup her cheek, tilting his head to deepen the kiss.
Her hands moved from his face to his chest, pushing him down, practically straddling his hips. One of his hands moved to the small of her back, resting there, as her hands tangled in his hair. Her lips moved from his, trailing kisses down his neck, to his collar bone. As she made her way back up, he took a chance and moved, turning then over, so that he was on top of her.
She gasped, and her eyes fluttered, but as she stared back up at him, there was so much heat in her eyes, it was hard to let himself take a breath. It only took a second before she'd pulled at his collar, her lips on his again. Her parted slightly, and he did the same, wanting her more and more and more.
Then Marinette's phone rang.
The trance they were in broke, and he moved off her to let her check it. She grabbed her phone, a pout at her lips. Cute. Her eyes widened, and she showed him who it was, Alya. And of course, she was using FaceTime.
Both if them knew if the phone rang any longer, Alya would grow suspicious. So, Adrien gave Marinette one last quick peck, then called for Plagg, who stuffed more cheese in his mouth before Adrien transformed.
As Marinette picked up, Chat Noir leapt off her balcony, feeling the wind in his hair as he fought the urge to yell with delight. He grinned widely, knowing full well that Plagg would later complain about him being "mushy", but he didn't care. He didn't care because he was in love.
Being in love with Marinette felt so right, so wonderful, and just made him feel so lucky. Because for once in his life, he felt like he was enough. And Marinette felt like home.