Work Text:
"Wait a minute...Who are you?"
Chat Noir burst out laughing at the well-known "Kazoo kid" while Marinette stared at him, then the laptop screen, then him again, baffled. Seeing Marinette's expression, he laughed even harder, seeming to confused her further. Of course, he couldn't really make fun of her, having barely known of the "Kazoo kid" for a few months thanks to Nino and the guys, but it was hilarious to see her so thoroughly confused.
"What's so funny about that? Isn't it weird or creepy that he literally broke the fourth wall?" Marinette questioned.
"I just don't understand how you never knew about the 'Kazoo kid'. What happened to your childhood?" Again, he shouldn't have been teasing, but it was always so fun to see Marinette's reactions.
"My childhood was very great, thank you very much," she scoffed, crossing her arms.
He was sure it was. Growing up in a bakery, with Tom and Sabine as parents must've been like being in heaven. He could imagine a tiny Marinette covered in flour with a giant grin on her face and she tried to knead some dough. That brought a small smile to his face.
"Yeah, you must've made a mess in the kitchen growing up," he teased, "Oh, wait, you still do now."
"If you keep that up, no more pastries for you," she huffed.
He gasped dramatically, "What?" For extra effect he splayed a hand on his chest, falling to his knees, "No pastries? How cruel, Purrincess, how very cruel. Why must you wound me this way?"
A mischievous glint came to her eye, a sly, small grin playing at her lips, "Do you want me to kiss it better?"
What? Kiss what better? Chat Noir blinked at her, "Wha--?"
"Your wound. Do you want me to kiss it better?" Her small, sly grin was giant by then.
He gulped. Kiss it better? She wanted to kiss him? Was it always so warm in her room? Wait, when did she get so close...? Her eyes were closing, was she really going to--?
Adrien woke up with a start, his heart pounding in chest. He sat up and looked around his room. His room. He was back in his room which meant that was a dream. But why would he dream of almost kissing Marinette? She was just a friend, wasn't she?
Wasn't she?
At that moment, Adrien's alarm went off, signaling that it was time to get ready for school. On the pillow beside him, Plagg groaned, phasing through it to hide underneath. That was what Adrien felt like doing, but he doubted he would've been able to sleep after that dream.
Sighing, he decided it was just because of fanfiction he'd been reading for one of his favorite animes the night before, and the fact that Marinette had been the last person he'd talked to before binge reading. Everything would be fine at school, it wasn't like she knew what he'd dreamt of and nothing was going to be weird between them. He'd just have to forget about the dream somehow. It couldn't be that hard, right?
...It was that hard.
When Marinette bumped into him on the way to her locker, and he'd caught her, he couldn't help but grow warm at the proximity. He never truly noticed how blue her eyes were, or how cute the freckles the were scattered across her nose were. He hadn't realized how long they'd been standing like that until Alya had come by and cleared he throat. Adrien hadn't even been able to properly apologize.
Then they were partners in chemistry. Every time their fingers brushed, their shoulders bumped, or they made eye contact, he'd get butterflies. It was worse when he'd been staring at Marinette, her tongue sticking out adorably as she concentrated, and almost burned something they'd put on the burner. She'd squeaked as though she were Multimouse again and rushed to turn off the burner. Both of their cheeks were bright red, but they'd turned crimson when they'd been reprimanded.
It didn't help that as he packed up his things to leave, Nino had come to him and asked, "Hey, dude, what's up with you and Marinette today?"
Adrien had simply blushed and muttered an unconvincing, "N-nothing," only to get an eyebrow raise from Alya and a shrug from Nino that seemed to say, 'Whatever you say, bro.'
Now, on a rooftop across from Marinette's balcony, Chat Noir stood, stunned. Ladybug was on Marinette's balcony, and in a flash of pink light, Marinette was there with Tikki, Ladybug's kwami. As much as he wanted to think he was dreaming again, or maybe even hallucinating, he knew what he'd seen was reality.
His feet moved of their own accord and he landed on Marinette's balcony, behind her, still in a daze. His lips moved on their own and he murmured, "My lady."
She whirled around to look at him, eyes wide, "W-wha--?"
"I'm sorry, I was on a run, and I was coming here, and then I saw you and--"
She cut off his rambling by placing a finger to his lips, "It's ok."
"It is?"
She moved her finger and smiled softly, "It is. I know your identity too, Adrien."
"You do? How? When?"
His mind was racing. When did he give himself away? Was it something he said? Did she see him transform or detransform somewhere? How long had she known for?
"Well... I kinda saw Plagg in your bag one day, about a month ago." She moved to her trapdoor, "Come inside, let's talk."
Once inside, with pastries and hot chocolate on her desk and them settled on the floor, he dropped transformation. His heart was racing. Marinette was not only his princess, but his lady, and that meant she was way more amazing than he'd ever realized...and also that she was way out of his league. And of course there was still the whole "other guy", and-- Was it Luka? Oh. Oh.
Before he could stop himself, the words spilled out, "So Luka's the other guy?" He winced. He hadn't meant to sound so hurt, or so tentative. He even thought he sounded a little bitter. He'd intended to keep the tone light, but he'd completely failed.
Her face scrunched up, confused, then cleared again on some sort of realization. "Oh, no the other guy was you, Adrien. And of course, I did have feelings for Chat Noir, but I couldn't because how could you love two boys at once? It didn't make sense. But then when I found out you were you, then I knew I just fell for the same guy twice. Crazy, huh?"
Love? She loved him? His heart pounded loudly in his chest as her cheeks turned crimson. Love. That was what he felt for her, all of her, and this amazing human being who was totally out of his league loved him too. He felt a giddy smile make its way into his face.
"You love me?" She nodded. He still couldn't believe it. She loved him. Him. "I guess it's a good thing I love you too, huh?" She blinked at him, either stunned or confused, he couldn't tell. It gave him courage to tentatively carry on, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Ladybug, my princess and my lady... I love you."
Maybe the dream hadn't made sense before, but it was suddenly very clear. Friends didn't think about other friends the way he thought about Marinette. They didn't think their blushing was cute and try to decifer every little thing they said. They didn't dream of slow dancing under the moonlight and of late night hang outs where it was just them, side by side, falling asleep together. They didn't smile at them so softly and affectionately, they didn't put their lives on the line for each other without a second thought, and they definitely didn't dream of wanting to kiss them.
Adrien loved Marinette. With all of his heart.