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While Adrien had had the opportunity to spend time with Ladybug before school, the circumstances had been less than ideal. An akuma alert had gone off while he’d been brushing his teeth and because of this, he had no time to go through his morning routine. Needless to say, it left him feeling a little self-conscious. It was bad enough that Ladybug had seen him before he’d managed to shower and shave, but he had to sit in shame for the rest of the day in class, surrounded by all of his friends. And that was a problem for a whole other reason.
Closing his locker, Adrien ran his fingers through his unstyled hair and sighed. It was going to be a long day. But, he tried to remind himself, aside from the lack of hygiene, his morning had been wonderful. Seeing Ladybug always put him in a good mood.
He and Ladybug had been spending more and more time together, experimenting with the kwami power-up potion recipes Master Fu had left behind for her. In a curious turn of events, on Friday evening, they’d messed up a potion in the strangest way. Neither of their suits changed, so at first glance, it appeared that nothing happened.
But something had definitely changed. Just not physically.
He always knew that Ladybug cared about him as a friend. But from what he could tell, Ladybug cared about him. She cared about him a lot. And it made his mind wander down roads it probably didn’t need to traverse, as he’d promised her that he would stop pursuing her romantically two years prior. But he also couldn’t help but wonder if there was a chance that he could eventually pursue her romantically? Again, he didn’t think his mind needed to go down that road. It was a terrible idea. But still.
If she was having the same experience as he was, was she surprised about the depth of his love for her? And with what he sensed coming from her, did she realize how insecure he actually was? Did she realize how much of his flirting was a coping mechanism?
Taking Tikki’s advice, they decided to give the potion-infused snacks to their kwamis to test out the new power during the akuma battle before school. And boy did it work miracles on their fight with the akuma. They had developed excellent teamwork skills during their time working together and he hadn’t thought that they could be more effective during a fight. But with the new potion? They worked perfectly in tandem. It almost felt like they could read each other’s thoughts. The battle with the akuma went so much faster and so much smoother than it normally would’ve otherwise.
But the downside was pretty overwhelming. Even after he detransformed, the effects were still there and he didn’t know for how many hours it’d last. He hadn’t realized it on Friday evening because he jumped through his window and went right to sleep after they’d messed around with it. And he was pretty certain that Ladybug was unaware of the side effect, otherwise she probably wouldn’t have suggested they give it a try so early in the day.
Adrien let out a deep breath as he pushed open the door to his classroom. He really, really didn’t want to be at school, but he also really, really didn’t want to sit at home all day. Either way it sucked. If his day was going to suck, he at least wanted it to suck while being surrounded by his friends.
He took his seat and pulled his homework assignment out of his bag to turn in. The more students flooded into the classroom, the more Adrien thought that maybe, just maybe, going to school instead of staying home was a terrible idea. The emotions were overbearing; he couldn’t think. Everything was cloudy.
And then he locked eyes with Marinette.
She stopped dead in her tracks, wide-eyed. And then gave a nervous giggle, a small wave, and tripped over herself on her way to her seat.
Adrien blinked. Marinette liked him? Marinette really liked him. Heat swelled in his chest and his throat constricted. He felt like he’d just invaded some of Marinette’s most personal feelings.
And also. Marinette felt that deeply for him?
Adrien was flustered. The depth of her care for him reminded him of Ladybug’s feelings. In that moment, Adrien wished he could return her feelings. He really wished that he could because he knew what it was like to pine for someone.
He didn’t want to think too much about it. Knowing himself, Adrien would let himself drown in guilt because Marinette was such a kind person and he really cared for her. As a friend. Nothing more. Because he was in love with Ladybug. Not Marinette.
But focusing on Marinette’s feelings made it easier to concentrate in school; they were strong enough to drown out everyone else. Even if it made him feel a little guilty. Just a little though.
After school was out, the potion was finally beginning to wear off. It was relieving. He opened the door of the car and tossed his messenger bag on the seat before sliding in. The day had been emotionally draining. He was grateful that he was able to duck out of lunch with Nino, Alya, and Marinette. He really, really didn’t want to feel the intense emotions that would’ve come along with the territory.
As usual, Nathalie greeted Adrien as he entered the Agreste mansion; there was no sign of his father. He politely returned her greeting and headed straight to his room. He desperately needed a shower.
As he began taking off his shirt, he let out a deep sigh. ‘Are you kidding me? We just did this this morning,’ Akuma alert.
“Alright Plagg,” he grumbled. “I don’t want to do this. I really don’t want to do this today. I just want to shower.”
“Then stay home?” Plagg suggested. “And I’ll share some camembert with you. It’s a generous offer if you⸺”
“Plagg! Transform me!”
·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ✩ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙
“Took you long enough to get here, Chatton!” Ladybug called, throwing her magical yo-yo into the air.
“I’m sorry Milady,” he began and inwardly sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with Ladybug, but he was so drained that he just wanted to sleep. The potion sucked and he really hoped that she wouldn’t ask him to use the powerup again.
He extended his pole and bounded from rooftop to rooftop, chasing the quick akuma across the city. It finally stopped at the top of the TVi Studio building. The two stopped on the roof of a nearby building and turned to face one another. “What’s the plan, Ladybug?”
She pulled out a small cookie and handed it to him. “I’m sorry that I still haven’t infused camembert. Give Plagg my regards. We’ll detransform, eat this, and then I’ll get us to the top of the TVi building,” she said as she walked to the edge of the building. “I’m going to duck down into the alley. Be on your best behavior,” she teased, tapping the tip of his nose.
Chat Noir nodded and followed suit on the opposite side of the building. “Plagg, detransform me.”
As his suit fell off and Plagg popped out, Adrien handed his kwami the cookie. “Ladybug hasn’t made the camembert for you yet. Sorry.”
“You’ll just have to give me twice as much after this,” he said. “This potion isn’t my favorite thing in the world you know. It makes me feel things aside from my love of cheese.”
Adrien’s lips tilted upward into a smile. “Hurry, Plagg.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Plagg muttered, shoving the macaron into his mouth.
“Plagg! Transform me!”
Chat Noir extended his pole and landed back up on the rooftop to rendezvous with Ladybug. She greeted him as he approached. His throat constricted as she neared. Her emotions were so strong. He was hoping that it’d be just as effective as it had earlier in the day. Because at the moment, it was hard to focus on anything other than how Ladybug was feeling. He hadn’t even completely come down from the morning’s potion and he wondered if maybe the effect had compounded. This was a very different feel from their first akuma battle.
He swallowed a lump in his throat as she wrapped his arm around his waist. She was talking but he couldn’t hear anything that she was saying. His pulse was so strong that he could hear the pounding in his ears. Between that and Ladybug’s scent and emotions and everything else, he just couldn’t focus.
Before he knew it, they were engaged in combat with, not only the akuma, but also with a sentimonster. It felt like the battle went on for hours when, in reality, it might’ve been ten minutes. They’d managed to take out the sentimonster, but the akuma had been much more powerful than either of them had anticipated. He’d already used his cataclysm; he’d have to duck out of battle soon.
“Ladybug! Get down!” he called as a surprise attack from Papillon himself had come behind her. He leapt forward and wrapped her in his arms, taking her from harm’s way.
“Take care of the akuma,” he rasped into her ear as he set her back down on the concrete roof. “I’ll take care of Papillon.”
“Right!” she called and threw her yo-yo, swinging in close to the akuma.
Turning back to Papillon, Chat smirked and extended his pole just long enough to match Papillon’s cane. As he neared the man, he hesitated. Why was Papillon doing all of this? He seemed like a broken man; it reminded him of his father. Chat ducked out of the way of a jab from Papillon.
“Hey Papillon,” Chat called, merely defending himself from the man. He didn’t want to go on the attack just quite yet. “Why do you do this?”
Chat tumbled out of the way from another swing of the cane as Papillon laughed, bitterly. “To obtain both your and Ladybug’s Miraculouses, of course, Chat Noir.”
Using his pole to block the incoming strike, Chat glared. “You seem like a broken man, Papillon. You don’t have to do this to heal,” he reasoned, pushing the cane back.
“So naïve,” Papillon spat, sidestepping Chat Noir’s attack. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Enlighten me. I’m not in the mood for this,” he snapped, getting down low, sweeping a low kick into the back of his knees, knocking him flat on his back, his cane rolling away.
”Miraculous Ladybug!”
Chat stepped on his chest, pointing his pole at Papillon’s throat, deep scowl on his face. “Who hurt you? What could be so bad that you have no issues destroying the city? How many people have you hurt?”
Papillon let out a bitter laugh as Chat sat down on Papillon, holding his pole across his neck. “You’ll understand one day when you lose someone important to you.”
Ladybug met with Chat and knelt down next to Papillon, her hand covering the Butterfly Miraculous. “You lose,” she softly said. “Let’s heal you.”
Chat turned to Ladybug, low growl emitting from his throat. “He deserves no mercy. We can’t bring back a single person that’s lost their life to his terrorism.”
“Don’t be so bitter, Chat,” as she plucked the butterfly from him.
As his suit faded away, Chat stared down in disbelief. It took everything in him to keep a neutral face. He couldn’t believe Papillon was his father, Gabriel Agreste.
Ladybug smiled sympathetically down at Papillon and motioned for Chat to get off of him. Before binding his hands behind his back with her yo-yo, she helped him to his feet. “Mr. Agreste.”
He sneered, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.
“You lost your wife, did you not?” she asked gently. “I won’t turn you into the police. I have a different place I will take you,” she whispered.
Chat Noir’s ring gave it’s one-minute warning.
“It’s okay, Chat,” she said. “I’ll take it from here.”
·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ✩ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙
Ladybug’s feet dangled over the side of their usual meeting spot, her fingers gently laying on top of his. “Are you okay, Chatton?”
He shook his head, exhaling heavily.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
He shook his head. What could he say that wouldn’t give away his identity?
“Listen,” she quietly whispered. “You haven’t been yourself since we defeated Papillon.”
“I know,” he replied gently. “Things are a little rough at home, that’s all.”
“Ah,” she replied. “Makes sense. Papillon was taken to the monks in Tibet. And Papillon was your father, wasn’t he?”
Chat’s eyes widened as he turned to face her. “N-No.”
“Don’t lie,” she said, gently brushing his bangs to the side. “I felt everything you were feeling, Adrien.”
A wry smile graced his lips. “I suppose I should give this back then?” he asked, gesturing to his ring. “Since you know my identity now.”
She shook her head, lips tilting upward. “Tikki, detransform me.”
Shocked, Adrien sat there, gawking. “Plagg, detransform me,” he finally whispered.
“Hi,” she said, reaching out to cup his cheek in her hand. “I love you, Adrien Agreste.”
“I love you too, Milady,” he rasped, leaning into her touch. “I’m so happy that it’s you, Marinette.”
“And I’m happy it’s you, Chatton,” she whispered. “Explains why you were in New York a couple years back.”
“Yeah,” he replied. “You too.”
She laced her fingers with his and pressed her warm lips to his cheek. “I’m here for you, you know. If you need anything.”
“Thank you, Marinette,” he paused. “Ladybug couldn’t have been a better person.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Does this mean⸺?”
She nodded and covered his lips with hers.
Together, Adrien and Marinette sat under the silver moonlight in a comfortable silence. They’d finally found exactly what they were looking for.