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Marinette had gone on a blind double date with Alya, Nino, and some guy from work whom Alya was trying to set Marinette up with, so their apartment was unusually quiet that Friday night.
It was times like this that Adrien missed Plagg the most. He agreed with Marinette that it was risky to walk around with their Miraculouses while there was no pressing threat, but, alone and in a morose mood, Adrien found himself sorely tempted to go fish the Miracle Box out of the safe in the back of Marinette’s closet and reunite himself with his old friend.
He knew Plagg would groan and fuss about having to listen to Adrien whine about his pathetic lack of a love life, but at least Plagg would listen. Because it wasn’t like Adrien could talk to anyone else about it. Not Nino…not his therapist…not even Marinette.
Marinette thought it best to continue to keep their identities secret from others so that they’d be safe in case some other villain came to fill the void Gabriel had left, and Adrien understood, but that didn’t make it any easier, not being able to confide in anyone about things.
Like how he was roommates with the love of his life, the woman he’d unknowingly fallen for twice. How he had never been happier than he was living beside her, sharing space and meals and household duties. How it was enough just to be with her. How it didn’t matter that his “domestic bliss” was just a game of pretend he was playing with himself. How he was really, truly happy.
“If you’re so happy,” Adrien could practically hear Plagg scoffing, “why are you sitting alone in the dark crying?”
Adrien swiped at his cheeks, trying to hide the evidence of his tear ducts’ betrayal.
At that very inopportune moment, Marinette opened the apartment door, flicked on the lights, and jumped when she registered Adrien’s presence.
“Sorry,” she laughed as her body came down from the sudden rush of adrenaline. “I wasn’t expecting you to be home. Didn’t you tell me you had plans when I asked if you wanted to come out with us? Did they get cancelled?” she asked, voice full of concern as she locked the door behind her and shrugged off her jacket, hanging it on the coat tree by the entrance.
Adrien averted his gaze, furtively scrambling to wipe all traces of tear tracks from his face.
“Yeah. Last minute,” he lied and internally winced as his voice came out strained and mucus-y.
Marinette turned to face him, eyes narrowing in suspicion as she crossed the great room to where he was cocooned in a blanket nest, cozy in old, worn Ladybug pyjamas.
He slumped under her scrutiny, feeling underdressed and inadequate.
She was wearing the most gorgeous red lace dress with a high neckline and long sleeves. She’d made it herself, obviously, and it looked fantastic on her.
She’d made his pyjamas too.
“Are you okay? You sound like you’re coming down with something,” she observed as she reached the couch. “Allergies?”
“Maybe,” he muttered, cheeks going as scarlet as her dress as he sank further into the blankets, hoping she’d stop looking at him so intently.
He really couldn’t bear to have her looking at him when he was such a mess and she was so perfect and unattainable.
Her eyes widened, and she drew in a soft gasp.
“Adrien, have you been crying?” She came over and sat on the sofa beside him, scooting closer and reaching to take his face in her hands to study him more thoroughly.
He turned his head away, insisting. “I’m fine. Just watching a sad movie.”
“Oh,” she breathed, relieved, as she looked to his laptop, squinting at the characters frozen on the screen, trying to place them. “What movie is this?”
Adrien blinked and then stared blankly at the screen, trying to come up with something plausible. His mental faculties failed him, so he just told the truth: “When Harry Met Sally….”
Marinette arched an eyebrow, turning back to peer curiously at him. “Isn’t that a rom com?”
Adrien lowered his eyes, murmuring, “…Yes?”
She looked back and forth between her roommate and the laptop screen. “What’s so sad about it?”
Adrien bit his lip, cheeks burning in shame as he found himself caught in a trap.
He couldn’t very well tell her that he was feeling heartbroken because the story of two old friends finally realizing they were meant to be together hit a little too close to home. He couldn’t tell her he was miserable because he loved her and couldn’t move on, even though he knew that his love was unrequited.
“…I just…” He swallowed and tried again to explain himself. “It was the wrong thing to watch right now. It reminded me…”
She tipped her head to the side, listening attentively, waiting for an opportunity to swoop in and make it better.
“…how lonely I am,” he finished in a mumble, shoulders scrunching up to his ears in embarrassment.
“Oh, Chaton,” Marinette cooed, moving the laptop to the coffee table, out of the way, and tugging off his blankets so that she could get at him. She pulled him into her arms, squeezing him tight and nuzzling his hair affectionately.
Part of him wanted to die of humiliation while the rest of him was already perishing of joy as she ran her hands up and down his back soothingly.
“You are the most amazing guy I have ever met,” she stressed, willing him to believe it. “And you could have anyone you wanted. Your problem is just that you never put yourself out there to meet people, Adrien. If you did, you’d find someone in no time.”
He hummed skeptically at her assertions. “…You really think I could have anyone I wanted?”
“Absolutely,” she assured.
He pulled back slightly to gaze questioningly into her eyes. “Even you?”
He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth.
Marinette winced, scooting away. “Didn’t you swear up and down that you were over me when you asked me to move in with you?”
He completely missed the bitter note to her tone and began to panic, racing to do damage control.
“I’m so sorry. Forgive me,” he begged. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I am over you,” he lied because it was the only way to preserve their easy friendship, and he couldn’t lose her. “I promise. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that. Please forget it. It was stupid.”
She caught his hands in hers and smiled warmly. “Shhh. It’s okay, Chaton. You didn’t make me uncomfortable. Promise. We’re cool.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”
She nodded. “We’re beyond all that. Don’t worry about it.”
He exhaled heavily in relief. “Sorry. Thanks…” He looked up at her tentatively. “…So…how did the date go? Seem promising?”
He held his breath, bracing himself for her response.
The universe took pity on the already-bruised state of Adrien’s heart, and Marinette simply shrugged.
“Not really,” she sighed. “I mean, he was nice, but we didn’t really click.”
“Oh. That’s a shame.” He tried his best to sound sincere while he internally did a victory dance. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged again and shook her head. “It’s okay. I still had a good time, and Alya’s already trying to set me up with somebody else, so…”
Adrien tried his best to hide his grimace.
“…But what did you get up to while I was gone?” she deftly changed the subject. “What did you do besides watch the movie?”
“I was actually quite industrious,” he informed with a touch of pride. “I did my laundry, your laundry, made Mami Gina’s famous lasagna so that you’d have something to take for lunch tomorrow, and then did the dishes.”
Marinette blinked, taken aback by everything he’d accomplished in the handful of hours she’d been away. “Wow. You weren’t kidding, were you?”
He gave a sheepish shrug. “I’m training to be a good homemaker. I do aspire to be more than a trophy husband, after all.”
“You’re going to make some guy or girl very happy one day,” she assured fondly, her smile filled with longing. “Thank you for taking care of the laundry, and thank you so much for cooking and cleaning up. You didn’t have to do that.”
She gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
He squeezed back, smiling softly as her presence made him forget his earlier despair. “You’re welcome. I’m always happy to help. I like being useful.”
“You’re very useful,” she affirmed, and then they fell into a comfortable silence until she broke it nearly half a minute later.
“…You know…we should set you up on a couple dating aps,” she hesitantly suggested, determined to do everything in her power to see him happy and loved, even if she had to break her own heart in the process.
Her partner was the most genuinely good person she knew, and he deserved good things. Who was she to let her selfish feelings for him stand in the way?
Adrien’s eyes widened, and he pulled away. “I don’t think that’s really the best idea. I’d rather not date strangers.”
“Everyone you know now was a stranger at some point,” Marinette pointed out pragmatically. “Come on. You have to be willing to take a leap of faith sometimes to find happiness.”
Adrien shook his head vehemently. “I don’t think so. The last thing I need is to open up to someone and end up hurt, Marinette.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off, making his case: “I think I need to be even more careful now than when I was younger. There are a lot of people who want revenge on my father, and I imagine there are still plenty of others who would only want to use my notoriety to get themselves in the spotlight.”
Her lips rounded into a little “o” as she realized that he had some good points.
He shook his head, continuing, “Growing up famous, I learned that there are a lot of people out there with bad intentions who will happily use and manipulate you to get whatever it is that they want, and I don’t want people taking advantage of me like that, Marinette,” he explained. “If you’re so determined to get me to date, I’d rather there be at least a bit of a vetting process for candidates.”
Marinette pursed her lips, considering what he had said. “You raise some interesting and valid concerns,” she hummed. “So…would you feel more comfortable if I consulted our friends to set you up on some blind dates with our friends’ acquaintances?”
“I mean…if you must,” Adrien sighed, looking away. “I don’t really feel like dating, Marinette. I’m sorry. I’m fine. Really.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “But you just told me you were lonely.”
“Because you left me alone to go on a date,” he sulked, hamming it up for her benefit, making it out to be less serious than it actually was. “I’m not lonely now that you’re home.”
Marinette burst out laughing and rolled her eyes. “Adrien, you are such a cat. Fine. Let me go get changed into something comfortable, and then we can snuggle and watch a movie together or something. How does that sound?”
“Absolutely purr-fect, My Lady,” he chuckled, a genuine smile slowly causing his lips to curl in contentment.
The preceding three weeks had been something like a strange, Boschian nightmare as Marinette set Adrien up on date after date after date.
In all fairness, Adrien had tried. He’d dressed nicely and arrived on time and engaged in chitchat to the best of his abilities. It was just…he spent the dates with the women tabulating all the ways they weren’t Marinette.
With the guys, it was worse. He recognized some of them as Marinette’s exes, and he spent the dates wondering how well they knew Marinette, if they had ever kissed her, if they’d gone further…. He wasted entire evenings attempting to look like he was keeping up with whatever the guys were saying while simultaneously, in the back of his mind, trying to determine just how jealous he should be of each candidate.
It was a good thing his father was locked up where he couldn’t take advantage of Adrien’s inner turmoil and akumatized him.
That thought came with its own host of messy, complicated feelings.
“…cute Portuguese girl I work with sometimes,” Alya was saying when Adrien tuned back in. “She’s really nice. I could ask her if it’s okay to give you her number,” she suggested, twirling her fork between her fingers as she tipped back and forth on her barstool at Marinette and Adrien’s kitchen island.
“Thanks, but I’m thinking about taking a break from dating for now,” Adrien declined politely as he added the vegetable broth and diced tomatoes to the pot and then began to stir.
They were having Nino and Alya over for the evening, and Adrien was making Tom’s mushroom and tortellini soup for the four of them.
Nino narrowed his eyes in concern, tentatively inquiring, “Haven’t you been on a break from dating since we were fifteen and things didn’t work out with Kagami, though?”
Adrien’s shoulders rose to his ears as he replied defensively, “I’ve…gone on dates with people since then. Plenty of dates.”
Nino arched an eyebrow, not impressed. “Unless you have some secret love life that I’m not aware of, on average, you’ve gone on less than one date a year, Adrien.”
Marinette and Alya collectively winced but did not comment, leaving it to Nino to dish out the tough love.
“I know it’s rough, Mec,” he continued in a softer, more sympathetic tone, “but maybe give it a little more of a chance. It’s only been a couple weeks. These things take time,” he urged, trying to be encouraging.
“You have no idea how rough this is,” Adrien grumbled with venom as he added the tortellini he had made earlier to the soup. “Not all of us can be lucky enough to find our soulmate when we’re thirteen.”
Nino flinched at Adrien’s scathing remark. “…No,” he admitted, suitably chastened. “I guess I don’t know what it’s like for you…. I’m sorry.”
Adrien’s shoulders slumped as he sighed heavily, shaking his head. “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a jerk about it. I’m just…the whole thing has me pretty down. Can we talk about something else, please?”
“I have a new topic,” Alya announced, setting her fork down on her plate beside her half-eaten salad. “When are you and Marinette going to get together?”
The people in question instantly tensed.
“Alyaaaa,” Marinette groaned. “Don’t.”
“Oh, why not?” Alya pressed, tired of seeing both of her friends miserable when the clear solution was for them to fill the void in the other’s life. “He’s single. You’re single. You already live together, and the chemistry between you two is explosive. I don’t understand why you two haven’t gotten together yet.”
“Marinette’s not interested in me,” Adrien replied in a weak, watery voice. It took every bit of his mental energy to maintain control of himself so that his words didn’t waver and his eyes didn’t begin to leak.
Alya snorted openly at that. “Oh, she’s not, is she? Says who?”
“Marinette does,” Adrien answered glumly, voice hollow.
Alya turned an intent gaze onto her best friend.
“I’ve told her how I feel about her several times, and she’s politely turned me down each one, so it’s, understandably, a sore subject,” Adrien explained, vocal cords tight and pinched. It felt like his throat was closing up on itself. “Seriously. Could we please talk about something else?”
“Hold up,” Alya demanded, full out glaring at Marinette and looking like she was about ready to leap across the island to tackle her. “What does he mean you turned him down?”
Alya’s head whipped around to Adrien’s back as he stood at the stove, trying not to tremble. “What exactly did you say to her? I need the play-by-play because something has obviously gone horribly wrong here.”
“Alya, let’s just drop it for now, okay?” Marinette pleaded, casting Adrien a worried glance.
“Let it go, Al,” Nino gently coaxed, picking up on Adrien’s tumultuous mood. “How about you tell us about that new piece you’re working on instead?”
“No. I am getting to the bottom of this,” Alya announced indignantly. “I have spent the past decade rooting for these two, and I’m not going to sit around twiddling my thumbs when I could be clarifying a misunderstanding and sending them off on their happily ever after.”
Alya set her sights on Adrien once more. “What exactly did she say to you, Sunshine?”
Adrien slammed the long spoon with which he had been stirring the soup down on the counter, making the other three jump.
“Just drop it, will you? It doesn’t matter what she said,” he choked, finally losing the fight against tears. “I’m a romantic reject, a socially inept nerd. What in the world could she possibly see in me? Nothing,” he bit savagely. “She’s too good for me…and my jokes aren’t even funny.”
He had the presence of mind to turn off the stove burner before whipping around and fleeing to the safety of his room.
Nino, Alya, and Marinette winced as the door slammed behind him.
Alya, complexion ashen, looked at the others in shock. “I didn’t mean…I wasn’t trying to make him angry. I just wanted to help. I just—”
“—We know,” Nino gently interrupted, reaching across the island to rest his hand on top of hers. “You’ve just got to learn to listen a little better when people tell you to stop, Al.”
Marinette got up and came to rest a hand on Alya’s shoulder, giving her friend a tired smile. “This isn’t completely your fault, Alya, so don’t feel too bad. Adrien’s been really depressed lately, and he tends to bottle things up until he can’t take it anymore and winds up exploding. He’s probably been stuffing his feelings down for a while, and this was just the last straw.”
Nino looked to Marinette. “Do you want to go after him, or should I?”
Marinette shook her head. “I’ll go. Let’s just give him a minute to calm down. You know how he hates people to see him when he’s a mess.”
Nino nodded knowingly as he carded a hand through his hair and sighed. “Poor guy. I didn’t realize how badly he was hurting.”
“Neither did I,” Marinette muttered, casting her gaze down in shame.
Alya narrowed her eyes, peering up warily at her best friend. “You do still love him, don’t you?”
Marinette nodded. “I don’t think I ever stopped loving him, honestly. I was confused for a while and tried to get over him, but… And then I thought it was too late when he told me he was over me.”
Nino snorted. “He’s been crazy about you since we were in collège. If he told you he was over you, he was either lying to you, to himself, or to the both of you.”
Alya gave Marinette a bolstering slap on the back. “Sounds like you need to do us all a favor and go kiss the boy stupid.”
“Oh, trust me,” Marinette snickered. “If it turns out he still has feelings for me and is amenable to kissing, I’ll kiss him as much as he wants.” Her face suddenly fell as she confessed, “I’m just not so sure that we’re on the same page, and I’m not going to do anything to endanger our friendship.”
“Well, go talk to him and figure it out at least,” Nino urged, making a shooing motion with his hand. “He’s probably had enough time to compose himself by now. If you wait any longer, he’ll start thinking no one cares and no one’s coming after him.”
Marinette took a deep breath and squared her shoulders towards Adrien’s room, facing the door with determination blazing in her eyes. “Wish me luck.”
“You won’t need it,” Alya assured with a fond smile, turning her palm over to give Nino’s hand a squeeze.
Marinette knocked tentatively, calling out, “Adrien? It’s Marinette. I’m coming in, okay?” before turning the knob and slowly pushing open the door.
His room was empty.
The curtain fluttered lightly in the autumn breeze, catching Marinette’s eye and drawing her attention to the open window out onto the fire escape.
She followed Adrien’s trail up to the roof where she found him lying on his back, knees bent and an arm tossed haphazardly over his face to hide his tears from the rest of the world.
“Chaton?” she called out to him, alerting him to her presence.
Adrien stiffened, obviously not happy of the company.
She went over to him and sat down beside him, tentatively reaching out to pet his hair.
“Shh,” she cooed. “It’s okay. Alya’s very sorry she upset you. You know how she gets once she has an idea in her head. She charges straight ahead, not really realizing the impact of her words. She thought she was helping.”
Adrien hummed noncommittally, slowly lowering his arm out of the way to look up and meet her eyes. “Sorry for storming out like that. That was really rude.”
“No one’s angry,” she assured, scratching gently behind his ear. “We understand. Sometimes people feel like they’ve been pushed to the edge, and they have to get away for their own mental health. It’s okay. That’s valid.”
Adrien nodded. “Thanks…. Sorry. I’ve been really moody lately.”
“It’s okay,” she repeated, willing to tell him as many times as he needed to hear it. “You have every right to be moody. I get moody sometimes.”
“But you’re cute when you’re moody,” he snorted bitterly. “I’m just…I’m a pain.”
“You’re not,” she stressed, continuing to play with his hair. “And you’re not a ‘romantic reject’ either.”
He averted his eyes, body tensing.
“You’re really special, Adrien,” she whispered. “So special that you just haven’t found the person who’s special enough for you yet. But please don’t give up. Don’t be sad or start thinking that there’s something wrong with you because you haven’t found someone yet. It’s not you who’s not good enough, Adrien. It’s just that you haven’t met the person who’s good enough for you yet.”
Adrien bit his lip, and his eyebrows pinched together as he debated his response.
“…I…lied to you,” he slowly admitted.
Her eyes went wide, and she swallowed hard. “O-Oh?”
He pushed himself up to face her, his expression set with the grim determination of one on his way to the gallows. “I told Ladybug that I’d fallen in love with someone else. I didn’t realize I was lying at the time, but…the person I fell in love with was Marinette.”
Marinette’s jaw dropped a few centimeters in her shock. “I…You never said anything.”
He shrugged helplessly. “You were dating Luka when I realized my feelings for you, and then I thought my feelings would only mess up our friendship and our friend group in general, so…”
He sighed, hanging his head. “And once I found out you were Ladybug, there was no need to say anything because you’d already turned me down as Chat Noir time and again.”
Mentally, Marinette began to tear her hair out, silently berating herself for that mistake for perhaps the millionth time.
“I didn’t think telling you how I felt as Adrien would make a difference,” Adrien continued, oblivious to Marinette’s distress, “so I just buried my feelings and tried to pretend everything was okay. Your friendship is the most important thing to me, Marinette,” he stressed, looking her in the eye, desperate for her to believe it. “The last thing I wanted was to mess that up…but I can’t keep lying to you anymore, so…I’m sorry,” he sighed again in defeat, dropping his gaze to the rooftop.
“No,” she whispered, beginning to feel sick as she realized how much time they had lost. “No, Adrien. I’m sorry.”
She let out a groan of frustration, covering her face with her hands. “I’ve seriously screwed up.”
“What?” he breathed, a tiny, almost soundless gasp.
She shook her head, looking up with tears in her eyes that threatened to spill over. “I screwed up. I should have told you from the start.”
“Told me?” he echoed, ears buzzing and head spinning as he began to panic.
Marinette nodded, taking his hands in her own. “I’ve been in love with you this whole time.”
The world continued to blur around the edges as he struggled to process what she had said and what she really meant by it because it was impossible for her to actually have been in love with him all along.
“What?” he repeated dumbly, doubting his senses.
“I love you,” she confessed with a flickering, timid smile. “Adrien was the boy I turned down Chat Noir for, but then I fell in love with Chat Noir too.”
He took one of his hands away from her to place on the roof behind him in order to prop himself up. He felt like he was about to tip over if the wind picked up.
“You…You never said anything,” he spluttered, still not quite able to believe that this was actually happening.
“I tried!” she protested indignantly. “You will not believe how many ridiculous schemes Alya and I concocted in collège for me to confess to you. It just…never worked.” She looked down at his hand in her own. “And then I developed feelings for Chat Noir, but things were too complicated with secret identities and my duties as Guardian.”
“You could have at least told me,” he grumbled, not quite sure what to feel. Annoyance, disbelief, and jubilation all warred for control inside of him. At the moment, numb shock was winning.
She shook her head sadly. “You would have convinced me to reveal our identities, and it just wasn’t safe enough for that. I couldn’t take that risk…and, by the time it was safe…you told me you were over me, so…I didn’t see the point in bringing up my feelings.”
“But…I was lying,” he argued impotently, wishing that she would just go back in time and make everything right again already.
Marinette shrugged, smiling weakly. “I was lying to you too…by omission, but…I should have just told you the truth. I should have come clean when you asked me to be your roommate, but…I love us,” she informed him with so much warmth and affection, it was like soaking up the heat and tranquility of a comfy patch of sunlight. “I love how we are together,” she continued, “and I didn’t want to mess that up.”
“Me too,” he breathed, chuckling airily. “I…I love us too.” He swallowed hard, meeting her gaze as he confessed, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she finally admitted, her grin gaining strength until it outshone the sun and moon and stars combined.
His heart fluttered in his chest at her words. “R-Really?”
He couldn’t imagine why, but he still hoped it was true anyway.
She nodded shyly, reaching up to run her fingers through his unruly hair. “I love you more than you can imagine. Your sincerity, your kindness, your resilience, your bravery…and even your sense of humor. I love everything about you, Adrien, and I feel so lucky that you’re my partner.”
“Even my sense of humor?” he laughed, still stunned and half sure that he was dreaming.
She looked away with a blush and reluctantly confirmed, “Don’t go getting an inflated ego or anything, but you’re kind of hilarious.”
“Ha!” he crowed in triumph. “She admits it!”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she was unable to quash the smile raging on her lips.
He looked at her intently, his levity suddenly dissipating. “But…for real…you love me?”
She nodded, stressing, “Yes, Adrien…and I’ll say it as many times as you need me to.”
“Oh,” he whispered as it finally started to sink in and penetrate the thick layers of doubt he’d built up around his heart.
Tears slowly began to parade down his cheeks once more.
“Oh, Chaton,” Marinette cooed, gently wiping them away with her thumb.
“Sorry,” he chuckled, but it sounded more like a hiccup as his voice hitched with emotion. “I just…I’ve been trying to drill it into my head for so long that this was never going to happen, but…”
He swallowed and tried again. “You know, sometimes I let myself pretend that you feel the same way I do. Sometimes I pretend that we’re married and living out our happily ever after. I pretend that…” His voice caught in his throat again. “…that everything’s going to work out and you’re going to change your mind and fall in love with me. I’ve kept holding onto that hope all these years, even though I knew it was wrong.”
“Adrien,” she whispered sympathetically as her heart broke for him. She felt his pain viscerally because she had often found herself in the same hopeless daydreams of them as a couple.
“But…that all can be a reality, now…can’t it?” He looked at her searchingly, silently pleading for her to say yes.
She nodded even as she responded coyly, “That depends. Will you go out with me, Adrien Agreste?”
“Yes,” he whimpered. “Please.”
“You are the most precious thing,” she chuckled, delighting in his obvious joy. “May I kiss you?”
“Please,” he pleaded nearly melting in bliss. “You can kiss me whenever you want.”
“Careful,” she cautioned with a predatory smirk. “I might just take you at your word.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” he hummed, gladly submitting to her lips.
It started off gentle and cautious but quickly caught fire as each put ten years’ worth of emotions into that one kiss, leaving both of them breathless and deliriously happy.
When Adrien returned to awareness of his surroundings, he found himself flat on his back with tussled hair, rumpled clothing, and Marinette’s warm weight resting comfortably on top of him. She pressed gentle kisses to his jaw while her fingers lazily played with his hair.
He hummed in contentment, savoring everything about the moment, even the cool autumn air adding a bit of contrasting chill and the way the hard rooftiles pressed uncomfortably into his back.
“I love you,” Marinette reminded, giving his ear an affectionate nuzzle.
“Tell me periodically so that I don’t forget, please,” he chuckled, reaching up to give her ponytail a playful tug.
“I will,” she promised, determined to make up for lost time.
He turned his head to face her. “…You’ve really loved me all this time?”
She nodded. “Since that day you gave me your umbrella and explained that you hadn’t put the gum on my seat. I’d been absolutely beastly to you, but you still put yourself out there and treated me kindly.”
He stared at her in awe for a moment, memorizing the curves of her lips, the way the setting sun glinted in her eyes and cast shadows on her cheek.
“…We’re really stupid, aren’t we?” he finally conjectured. “All this time…we’ve been making ourselves and each other miserable when all it took was for us to sit down and talk things out.”
She winced, pushing herself off of him and up to sitting. “No one can ever know.”
“I think Nino and Alya may have figured it out what with my little scene downstairs. Sorry,” he chuckled sheepishly, sitting up as well.
“Nope,” Marinette protested. “We admit nothing.”
“As my Princess wishes,” he agreed, reaching up to stroke her cheek lovingly.
Marinette grinned impishly, diving in for another kiss.
Alya arched an eyebrow as a very disheveled Adrien and Marinette returned arm-in-arm. “Did you kiss him stupid?”
“I was already stupid,” Adrien replied amicably, pressing a quick kiss to Marinette’s temple as he broke away from her, heading back to the stove to resume dinner prep.
Nino smiled fondly, perfectly content with the outcome even as Alya turned a glare on Marinette.
“Well?” Alya demanded. “Details?”
Marinette shrugged, happily taking her seat beside Nino. “No comment.”
The
End
