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“—and we were forced to reveal our identities to each other,” Marinette finished, clutching her glass of water to contain her anxiety.
Across from her and Adrien’s side of the wooden table, Master Fu remained pensive, as he had been throughout her whole explanation.
The akuma fight the night before had left her exhausted, giving her no time to process the ground-breaking events. Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir. If she didn’t physically feel the ground shaking under the boy’s jittery leg, she might’ve brushed it off as a fever dream. The pair waited on the Guardian’s judgment in bated breath.
“I see.” Master Fu rose from his seat, disappearing into the side room.
Adrien pushed away from the table, making to follow him. “Look, this isn’t Marinette’s fault. If there’s anyone you should bl—”
A shake of the head from Tikki quieted him.
Once again, they were obligated to wait. The crippling fear that their miraculous would be taken away loomed over their thoughts. Marinette couldn’t imagine giving up Ladybug.
Her mind wandered to Adrien. Knowing his identity and his home life, she couldn’t imagine how hard the news must’ve hit him. No wonder he was still sane with such a suffocating lifestyle. Chat Noir gave him his freedom. And even that might get taken away.
Even with all the bad that came from the reveal, a part of her reeled. The part she’d tried for months on end to suppress.
She’d always loved Adrien. Except, that love came from a more admirative stance. Loving from afar and appreciating him through his kindness and willingness to help others. The type of love that bubbled up, eager to make itself known. The feelings she’d begun harbouring for her partner on the other hand… Those were carved out of a deep understanding of one another. A feeling that supported her through times of stress, no matter what they went through. It went acknowledged but unspoken.
Now, he stood at the center of the room, running a hand over his face. “My Lad— Marinette, I’m… so sorry.”
Pained by his helpless tone, Marinette left the table to comfort him. Though, she wasn’t sure how to. They had a different set of boundary lines for each of their identities. As civilians, they opted for a friendly distance, breached only by shoulder pats or hi-fives. As superheroes… well, they really had no boundaries.
Still, her partner was tearing himself apart, thinking he deserved the blame for a situation out of their control. She started with a caress of his arm.
“Hey,” she said gently. “No one’s at fault here, Kitty. What happened, happened. Whatever Master Fu decides, I’ll always be…” she trailed off, knowing he’d caught her meaning and not wanting to outright tell him more than she felt ready to.
What if she did?
Before Marinette could entertain that train of thought, Adrien tensed beneath her touch, as if preparing to say something. Instead, she trailed her hands down to his, lacing their fingers together.
Silence settled in once more, both their nervous energies mingling. What was taking Master Fu so long? The kwamis had followed him, leaving the room empty apart from themselves.
It brought her back to Adrien’s words from earlier. He’d been near letting go of his duties as a superhero so she could continue. Sacrificing his only escape from his responsibilities.
One more thing had happened the night before.
The love she felt… for both Adrien and Chat Noir… had mended together. What had felt like a folded-in corner of a photograph had unraveled itself to present one big picture. Marinette was a million times more in love than she ever fathomed possible in a lifetime.
That moment in time, their relationship floated in uncertain territory.
It had to happen now. After they left, no matter what Master Fu’s decision, everything would change. For better or worse.
Then why couldn’t she bring herself to?
She peeked up at him, at last, pulling his attention away from his feet. Opening her mouth to confess, nothing came out. His expectant gaze did nothing for the burning in her cheeks. The filtered sunlight from the draped window illuminated his face just enough to realize she wasn’t the only one.
When had he gotten so close?
His other hand wrapped around her loose one, stroking her wrist with his thumb as if she were made of glass. Giving up on speaking at all, she hoped her eyes communicated what she so desperately needed him to understand. It proved difficult since his gaze flitted from them to her lips.
To make sure the other didn’t object to their advances, every movement was made with hazy calculations. Little by little, Marinette’s hands came to rest on his chest. One of his grazed the side of her face, inching to her hair.
She had forgotten what she had wanted to say or why they’d been tense minutes ago. All she understood was the light fanning of his breath interweaving with hers. Eyes fluttering closed, she waited. And even with his index finger tilting her chin up, he waited, too.
The quiet pounded in her ears, her heart, her trembling breath past her parted lips. Waiting.
With a delicate tug at his shirt, she rose to her tiptoes to seal their unspoken agreement.
Sighing into the kiss, her lips had barely ghosted his when a clattering from the conjoining room startled them.
In haste, they pushed away from each other. Marinette even resorted to stepping across the room for good measure. Covering the bottom half of her face to conceal her blush, she looked anywhere that wasn’t Adrien.
She sighed in relief that Plagg and Tikki were the first to flit in.
“Whoa. Tikki, I think my kid is trying to out-red you.”
Well, so much for relief.
Luckily, they didn’t need to sit in the embarrassment for long. Master Fu wobbled in with a stack of tomes and boxes. Marinette rushed to his aid, speeding up when she realized Adrien had the same idea.
Whatever that… that kiss… had meant, now wasn’t the time to dwell on it because their future as heroes would be determined that very moment.
Setting all his trinkets on the table, the Guardian stared between them, determined— and strangely, knowing. She fiddled with the seam of her shirt at that and heard the faint tapping of her partner’s foot resume.
Master Fu pried open an ancient-looking book, the sides landing on the table with a thud. Looking up again, he smiled in amusement.
“Congratulations, Ladybug and Chat Noir. Now that you’ve passed the obstacle of your secret identities, it is time to begin the next phase of your training.”